Israeli forces kill Hamas member during West Bank ambush

The Israeli regime's forces have fatally wounded a member of the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas during an ambush in the central part of the occupied West Bank.

The incident took place on Friday near the illegal settlement of Pesagot, which is located to the east of the city of al-Bireh.

The West Bank-based Palestinian health ministry named the victim as Mohammad Jibril Roummaneh, saying he had succumbed to serious injuries he had suffered in the abdomen.

Hamas, which is headquartered in the nearby Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, issued a statement, describing Roummaneh as a "heroic martyr," who had died while "defending the freedom of [his] people."

Another Palestinian was "lightly" injured during the incident, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.

The Israeli army alleged that the victims had been targeted after "assailants hurled Molotov cocktails at a military post adjacent to the [settlement] of Psagot."

"Soldiers...identified the suspects and responded with live fire," claimed a statement by the army.

Violence waged by the regime's forces and its illegal settlers has claimed the lives of at least 242 Palestinians so far this year.

MG