Hawzah News Agency-An Israeli settler riding a motorbike has run over an 85-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, fatally injuring the victim.

The incident took place on Wednesday near the community of Khirbat al-Marajim, situated west of the town of Duma, which lies southeast of the city of Nablus

The victim was identified as Moussa Muhammad Salman from the village of Talfit.

Salman had been riding a donkey and herding his sheep when he was run over by the Israeli settler.

Hasan Faraj, a relative of Salman, told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency that the elderly man succumbed to his wounds after he arrived in An-Najah National University Hospital in Nablus.

Meanwhile, Palestinian security sources said an investigation was launched into the case to determine whether the incident was deliberate or accidental.

Palestinians regularly fall prey to hate attacks by extremist Israeli settlers, who either subject them to injurious or fatal assaults or vandalize and set fire to their properties.

In one of the deadliest incidents last July, settlers carried out an arson attack against two Palestinian houses in Duma, killing 18-month-old Ali Sa’ad Dawabsha. His parents, who had been injured in the attack, also died later.

According to the latest figures released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Israeli settlers have carried out at least 71 attacks on Palestinians and their property in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds, so far this year, compared to a total of 221 such attacks in 2015.

However, the perpetrators of such acts of violence are rarely punished, with Israeli police closing most cases without an indictment.

This is while the occupied territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in an alleged bid to change the status quo of the Muslim site.

More than 220 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in what is regarded as the third Palestinian Intifada (uprising) since the beginning of last October.

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