Ramallah, August 26 (RHC)-- Israeli military forces have fatally shot a Palestinian man at a military check post near the illegal Ofra settlement in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli soldiers opened fire at 38-year-old Iyad Zakariya Hamed from close range at the entrance to the town of Silwad, located 12 kilometers northeast of Ramallah, on Friday afternoon, Arabic-language Safa news agency reported.

Israel’s Hebrew-language media outlets initially reported that the slain Palestinian man had opened fire from inside a car, and that a woman might have accompanied him.  Later investigations, however, dismissed earlier allegations, and showed that the Palestinian man, who is survived by three children, was unarmed.

More than 230 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of last October.