Bethlehem /PNN/

The Israeli occupation forces shot and killed three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank this morning, one in Beit Ummar in the south of the West Bank, and two others, siblings, near Ramallah, according to the Ministry of Health.

Mufeed Mohammad Ikhlil, 44, was shot in the head and killed during clashes between soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinians in Beit Ummar. Nine others were shot by live bullets, one hit in the chest and the others in the upper and lower limbs and reported to be in stable condition.

In the village of Kufr Ein, near Ramallah, soldiers opened fire at the two siblings, Jawad and Thafer Abdul Rahman Rimawi, 22 and 21, and killed them. Jawad, a new Business Administration graduate from Birzeit University, was shot in the pelvis, and his bother Thafer, a fourth-year Technology student also at Birzeit University, was shot in the chest, said the Ministry of Health.

A general strike was declared in Ramallah as a result.

The Ministry of Health said that with the three killed today, the Israel army has shot and killed 153 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the start of the year.

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) condemned Israel’s killing today of two Palestinian siblings near Ramallah.

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the PLO’s Executive Committee, described the killing as an awful crime and fascist behavior.

“An awful crime committed by the occupation forces - assassinating two brothers in Beit Rima, Ramallah, Jawad al-Rimawi and Thafer al-Rimawi,” said al-Sheikh in a tweet. “Execution in cold blood is fascist behavior for their forces and the appropriation of Palestinian blood with political instructions.”

In addition to the killing of the siblings, the Israeli army also killed this morning 44-year-old Mufeed Ikhlil in Beit Ummar in the south of the West Bank.

For his part Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said today that the Israeli army killing this morning of the two siblings, Jawad and Thafer Rimawi, from Beit Rima, and Mufid Ikhlil, from Beit Ummar, is a heinous crime, as are all the crimes of the occupation, and an escalation that carries the omen of great dangers.

He accused Israel in a statement of committing its crimes “without the slightest regard for international laws and conventions.”

The Prime Minister said that "as the current and new Israeli governments continue to declare war on our people, we call on the countries of the world to urgently intervene to stop and curb the Israeli killing machine, and to hold the perpetrators accountable."