A Palestinian teenager has been killed by Israeli gunfire in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said as tension simmers after repeated clashes that have left dozens dead.
The 19 year old suffered a mortal wound in the neck while three others were shot in their limbs, the Palestinian ministry said on Friday morning.
The violence happened as Israeli forces raided Jenin refugee camp in an attempt to make arrests. The camp, in the northern West Bank, has been a flashpoint in recent fighting.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Parts of the occupied West Bank are outraged after repeated Israeli raids and a sharp rise in attacks by Palestinian gunmen.
The year 2022 is already the deadliest since 2015, with more than 120 Palestinians killed.
Earlier, Jewish settlers stormed a Palestinian town in the West Bank, throwing stones at Palestinian cars and using pepper spray on troops who were trying to disperse them, the Israeli military said on Thursday.
The settler rampage, which happened late on Wednesday, came days after a similar incident in the same area.
Also on Thursday, Palestinian health officials said a Palestinian boy, 16, had died after he was wounded in clashes with Israeli troops late last month.
-
Palestinian protesters wave flags as Israeli troops take position during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah. Reuters -
Now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a new term in office, there’s little to prevent him from annexing large parts of the West Bank as early as this summer. AP -
An Israeli soldier stands guard during a tour made by Israeli parliament members in the Jordan Valley near the Jewish settlement of Maale Efrayim. Reuters -
Israeli soldiers take position as Palestinian demonstrators gather during a protest against expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank. AP -
King Abdullah (r) of Transjordan on May 13, 1948 in Amman with Abed Al Rahman Azzam, the secretary general of the Arab League and Abd Al Elah Ibn Ali, the Prince Regent of Iraq, the day before the beginning of the first Arab-Israeli War. AFP -
Palestinians surrender to Israeli soldiers in June 1967 in the occupied territory of the West Bank after Israel launched a pre-emptive attack on Egypt and Syria and seized the Gaza Strip, Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in Syria as well as the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. AFP -
A Palestinian child plays in a refugee camp in Jordan on June 23, 1967. AFP -
PLO chairman Yasser Arafat delivers a speech to the Palestine National Council meeting to make the historic proclamation of a Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied territories and to recognize Israel in the Palace of Nations conference hall on November 12, 1988, in Algiers. AFP -
US President Bill Clinton stands between PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzahk Rabin as they shake hands for the first time on September 13, 1993 at the White House. AFP -
Hussein Ibn Talal, King of Jordan and Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin shake hands after they exchanged the documents of the Peace Treaty at Beit Gabriel conference centre on November 10, 1994 on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. AFP -
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during the Palestinian leadership meeting and threatened to end security coordination with Israel and the United States, saying Israeli annexation would ruin chances for peace. AFP -
Houses in the Israeli settlement of settlement of Kedumim are seen in the foreground as part of the Palestinian city of Nablus is seen in the background (far left) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Reuters -
Israel's controversial concrete barrier (C) separating the Jewish settlement of Neve Yaakov (foreground) in the northern part of east Jerusalem and the Palestinian area of al-Ram (background) in the occupied West Bank. AFP -
An Israeli activist holds a banner during a protest against the US peace plan for the Middle East, in front of the US ambassador's residence in Jerusalem, on May 15, 2020, as Palestinians commemorate the 72nd anniversary of the 1948 Nakba or "catastrophe". AFP -
A Palestinian shepherd tends to his camels on arid land considered to be in "Area C" (under Israeli security and administrative control), southeast of Yatta town in the southern West Bank district of Hebron. AFP -
A general view of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh, as seen from the Palestinian village of Azmout near the West Bank City of Nablus. EPA -
The West Bank Jewish settlement of Maale Michmash. AP
Palestinians also launched a general strike throughout the West Bank and east Jerusalem in response to the death of a suspected Palestinian attacker.
The place where the attacker went on rampage is near Huwara, a Palestinian town in the northern West Bank near the city of Nablus, where a group of disaffected youths has taken up arms against Israel amid frustration with the Palestinian leadership’s close security ties to it.
Palestinian militants in the area have carried out several roadside shootings in recent weeks. The area is home to a number of hardline settlers who often intimidate Palestinians and vandalise their property.
Critics accuse Israel of turning a blind eye to settler violence against Palestinians while adopting a heavy-handed approach with Palestinian assailants or protesters.
In the past, settler violence has also led to confrontations with soldiers, which is often condemned by politicians but rarely leads to a solution to the problem.
Israel has been operating extensively across the occupied territories, especially in the northern West Bank, since a series of Palestinian attacks during spring killed 19 people in Israel, with recent violence accounting for more casualties.
The Israeli military said it was forced to act due to the refusal of Palestinian security forces to clamp down on armed factions.
In response, Palestinian security forces said Israeli actions undermined their credibility and public support, especially in the absence of any political process.
The last round of substantive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks ended in 2009.
Israel claims that most of those killed were militants. However, local youths protesting against the incursions and some civilians have also lost their lives in the violence.
Hundreds have been rounded up, with many placed in “administrative detention”, which allows Israel to hold them without trial or charge.
The violence has also been stoked by deepening disillusionment on the part of Palestinian youths angered by the tight security co-ordination between Israel and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, as they work together to apprehend militants.
Experts and community leaders have already issued a warning that the violence this year bears similarities to the early stages of the Palestinian uprisings, or intifada, in the 1980s and early 2000s.
Israel captured the West Bank during the 1967 Middle East war and 500,000 Jewish settlers now live in about 130 settlements and other outposts alongside about three million Palestinians.
The Palestinians want that territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, to make up their future state.
