Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank clashes, says health ministry

Israeli forces on Friday shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.

A few hundred Palestinians had gathered near Nablus in the northern West Bank to protest Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian land.

Some in the crowd, with their faces covered by masks, threw rocks at soldiers and burned tires, witnesses said. Israeli soldiers opened fire, killing one man, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Zakaria Hamayel was struck by a bullet to the chest in the village of Beita, south of Nablus, the ministry said.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said they were checkingthe report.

Tensions remain high in the region despite a ceasefire reached last week between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza that ended 11 days of fighting.