Israeli army kills Palestinian holding toy gun-mayor

JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) – Israeli soldiers killed a
Palestinian who approached them, shouting they should leave and
carrying a toy gun, during a West Bank raid on Wednesday, local
residents said, describing the man as mentally disabled.

Israeli military sources said the troops had spotted a
gunman and shot him after a Palestinian crowd gathered around a
building they had entered in the village of Qabatiya, near the
city of Jenin, and began throwing rocks.

“Leave the village,” residents quoted Mujahid Smadi, 20, as
yelling at the soldiers, who the military sources said were
searching for militants.

“This man is mentally disabled,” said Qabatiya Mayor Issam
Nazzal, a description also given by other local residents. “He
had a plastic toy gun and went toward the soldiers, asking them
to go away and they shot him dead.”