Israel kills member of Palestinian security forces who it says was a militant

Jerusalem: Israeli forces killed a member of the Palestinian security services in the West Bank whom they accused of being a militant.

In a separate development, Israel warned that a ceasefire in Lebanon could break down if Hezbollah militants do not withdraw from the border and Lebanese troops fail to police the buffer zone.

Israel’s paramilitary Border Police said they carried out an operation in the West Bank village of Meithaloun to arrest Hassan Rabaiya, describing him as a wanted militant. They said he was killed in a shootout while trying to escape, and that the troops found a shotgun, weapons parts and around $26K in cash inside his home.

Meithaloun is near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, an epicentre of Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent years. The Palestinian security services identified Rabaiya as a first lieutenant in its Preventive Security force, saying he was killed while “performing his national duty”. The Palestinian Authority has been waging a rare crackdown on militants in Jenin in recent weeks, angering many Palestinians.