RAMALLAH: Zionist troops shot dead four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, and a Palestinian motorist was killed after wounding a Zionist soldier, Zionist medics and the army said. The West Bank has suffered spiraling violence this year, with near daily Zionist army raids leading to scores of deaths of Palestinians.

In Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, two brothers were killed by Zionist fire, the Palestinian health ministry said. A third man died of bullet wounds to the head fired by Zionist troops in Beit Ummar, while a fourth Palestinian died after being shot in the chest by Zionist soldiers on Tuesday afternoon during clashes north of Ramallah, the ministry said in separate statements.

Palestinian news agency Wafa named the man killed near Ramallah as Raed Ghazi Al-Naasan. Wafa named the other dead man as Mufid Mahmud Khalil, 44, from the Beit Ummar area. The health ministry identified the dead in Kafr Ein as brothers Jawad Abdulrahman Rimawi, 22, and Dhafer Abdul Rahman Rimawi, 21.

Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister Hussein Al-Sheikh described the killing of the two brothers as an "execution in cold blood". On Monday, the United Nations envoy for Middle East peace, Tor Wennesland, warned the situation in the West Bank was "reaching a boiling point". "High levels of violence in the occupied West Bank and (the Zionist entity) in recent months, including attacks against (Zionist) and Palestinian civilians, increased use of arms and settler-related violence, have caused grave human suffering," he told the Security Council.

This week, the Zionist army announced it had made more than 3,000 arrests this year as part of Operation Break the Wave. The UN says more than 125 Palestinians have been killed across the West Bank this year. The Zionist entity has occupied the territory since the Six-Day War of 1967. An estimated 475,000 Zionist settlers now live in the territory, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians, in communities considered illegal under international law.

Tuesday's violence came as veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu continued negotiations to form what could be the most right-wing government in the Zionist entity's history, following a general election earlier this month. On Friday, Netanyahu signed an agreement with lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir that promised the far-right firebrand the new post of national security minister, with responsibility for the border police in the West Bank. Ben-Gvir, known for anti-Arab rhetoric, has repeatedly called on police and soldiers to use more force when confronting Palestinian unrest. - AFP