Israeli border volunteer shoots dead young Palestinian worker

A volunteer for the Israeli border police shot and killed a young Palestinian worker in Petah Tikva early Saturday, Israeli media and a police spokesman said.

According to the Israeli news site Ynet, the volunteer shot the Palestinian in Yarkon Cemetery while conducting a search for "people residing in Israel illegally."

The Palestinian worker was in his twenties, the report said.

A spokesperson for the Israeli border police told Ynet the worker approached the volunteer and "tried to stab him," and that the volunteer responded by shooting the worker to death.

Forty undocumented workers were reportedly detained during the search.

An earlier report on Ynet, published in Hebrew, said a young man was found dead in Yarkon cemetery, and that police were investigating the incident.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed the incident.

"Border police in the night were searching for illegal Palestinian workers," he told Ma'an via text message.

After a Palestinian attempted to stab a border police volunteer, the volunteer "fired a shot at the suspect, (who was) injured critically and died soon after," Rosenfeld said.