An 80-year-old Palestinian was found dead in a village in the West Bank early Wednesday, his body still handcuffed after an Israeli arrest raid, its mayor said.
Around 30 to 40 Israeli troops took part in the pre-dawn operation in the village of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, mayor Fuad Moutee said.
Omar Abdulmajeed Asad and other family members were returning from visiting relatives when they were stopped by the soldiers, Moutee said.
"They stopped the cars in the village center and arrested the passengers inside and handcuffed them," he said.
After the troops withdrew, villagers found Asad's body in a building under construction.
In a brief statement, the Palestinian health ministry confirmed the mayor's version of events, adding that Assad had died of a "heart attack".
The Israeli military confirmed he had been held by soldiers "after resisting a security inspection," but said he was then released and only later, in the morning, found dead near his village.
It also said that the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is reviewing the incident, at the end of which the findings will be transferred to the Military General Advocate Corps.
His death comes after clashes between troops and students on Tuesday at Birzeit University, near Ramallah, as well as an attempted car-ramming attack in which an Israeli soldier was injured near a Jewish settlement.