Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian teenager during clashes in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says, the latest in a string of deadly incidents that have stoked fears of an escalation.
Violence in the West Bank has surged in recent months as Israel has intensified raids following a spate of lethal Palestinian street attacks in its cities.
The Israeli military said its soldiers came under fire around Jenin, an area of frequent incursions, while operating at the houses of Palestinians involved in a Wednesday clash that left an Israeli officer and two Palestinian gunmen dead.
“Armed suspects hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails and fired toward the soldiers. In response, the soldiers fired toward the suspects. Hits were identified,” the military said.
The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of a 17-year-old. President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killing and Israel’s raids in the West Bank, where dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces this year.
US-sponsored Palestinian statehood talks with Israel collapsed in 2014. Since then, the domestic credibility of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which has limited self-government in the West Bank, has waned.
“Violence is violence. We want everyone to do more, we want the Palestinian Authority to do more, the Palestinian security forces to do more to prevent it,” US Ambassador Tom Nides told Israeli Kan radio.
Read the article in The West Australian and The Canberra Times (Reuters).