Israeli forces kill Palestinian bomb suspect in West Bank shoot-out

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank they accuse of having helped plan a bus bombing in Tel Aviv last November, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.

Israeli forces accompanied by large numbers of military vehicles, raided an area north of Ramallah early Tuesday morning, between the villages of Bil’in and Kafr Nima, to detain Mohamed Assi, a 27-year-old member of armed resistance group Islamic Jihad

Assi was killed after a shoot-out with Israeli forces that lasted for hours after seeking cover in a cave. Israel has accused him of playing a role in the November 2012 bus bombing in Tel Aviv that wounded 29 people.

The Palestinian Authority confirmed to Al Jazeera that Assi was a member of Islamic Jihad, and that it had received his body from Israeli forces.

Eyewitnesses in Kafr Nima said Israeli bulldozers razed Palestinian olive fields in the area during the raid. Locals also said Israeli forces had ransacked several homes before they detained three men, according to the Palestinian news agency, Maan news.

An Israeli military spokesman told Al Jazeera that forces had found Assi hiding in a cave on the outskirts of Bil'in, and that bulldozers were brought in to gain access to the cave entrance which had been blocked.

The spokesman added that Assi had opened fire on forces when they attempted to detain him.

Residents of nearby villages reported hearing the clashes throughout the night.

“I heard gunfire for more than an hour and there was a heavy presence of occupation army forces and border police in the area between the villages,” Jaber Abu Rahmeh, a resident of Bil’in, told Al Jazeera. “Youths clashed with Israeli forces which shot teargas at them.”

Bil'in is known as the heart of nonviolent resistance in the West Bank for its years of weekly demonstrations against the separation wall – constructed on the village's land.

An Israeli army statement released Tuesday morning said Assi was “one of the planners of the terror attack which took place last year on a bus in Tel Aviv during Operation Pillar of Defense,” a code name for last year’s military operation in Gaza in which 174 Palestinians were killed, 101 of them civilians according to the U.N. Five Israeli civilians and one soldier were killed by rocket fire from Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza during the fighting, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out overnight Monday and continued Tuesday after Israeli forces demolished a Palestinian home in Abu Dis, a town that borders Jerusalem, Maan reported.

Israeli bulldozers and at least 30 military vehicles surrounded the home before demolishing it, arguing the family had not received an Israeli permit to construct the house.

A Palestinian university in the area was forced to close for the day because of the Israeli military presence in Abu Dis, local media reported.

“The Israelis were there overnight demolishing this house because it didn’t have a building permit and they stayed until morning. It became pretty hectic as all the school students weren’t able to reach schools and the university,” Salah Shbak, a student at the university, told Al Jazeera.

“There were clashes and the occasional round was fired by the soldiers. It seems like ammunition was used, shells were on the ground. They fired lots of teargas and sound grenades.”

Israel has demolished more than 500 Palestinian properties in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the beginning of the year, according to the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, displacing at least 862 people. These demolitions are considered illegal under international human rights law as they violate the right to adequate housing.

Violence in the West Bank has seemingly been on the rise in recent days, coinciding with remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday suggesting that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians were intensifying.

Five additional Palestinians have been shot dead in the occupied territory by Israeli forces and three Israelis have been killed in clashes since peace talks resumed in July.

Clashes between stone-throwing youth and heavily armed Israeli forces have erupted in cities across the West Bank in past months and local media have reported Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians and their property since the annual olive harvest began this fall.

Renee Lewis contributed to this report, with wire services.