JERUSALEM — Israeli officials said special forces hunting the killers of a West Bank settler raided a home before dawn Thursday, killing a Palestinian suspect in a firefight that also wounded two Israeli officers.
The raid was part of a police and army hunt for those involved in a drive-by shooting last week that killed a rabbi from an Israeli settlement outpost, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
One suspect was killed and other Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank town of Jenin, according to a statement by Israel’s Shin Bet security services.
Israeli security forces did not release the slain Palestinian’s name, and there was growing confusion over his identity hours after the raid.
Israeli media initially identified the man killed as a member of the Islamic militant Hamas group by the name of Ahmed Jarrar.
However, Palestinian health officials, correcting their initial identification, later said the man killed was Ahmed Jarrar’s cousin, a 30-year-old with the same first and last name.
The officials said the cousins have different middle names — Nasser for the Hamas activist and Ismail for the cousin. The family described him as a laborer not involved in politics.
The Shin Bet declined further comment, saying it is still reviewing the incident.
The Jarrar family said Israeli forces demolished three homes belonging to the extended family with bulldozers and damaged a fourth one in the process.
Khitam Jarrar, the mother of the Hamas activist, said she heard “extensive shooting” outside her home Wednesday evening and that Israeli forces ordered her and others out of her home.