Boy killed by Israeli army in Bethlehem raid, Palestinian authorities say

Adam Ayyad is third Palestinian to be killed so far this year

Boys put up a poster of Palestinian teenager Adam Ayyad, who medics said was killed by Israeli forces. Reuters

A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by the Israeli army in a dawn raid near Bethlehem, Palestinian authorities said.

Adam Ayyad was shot in the chest during a military raid at Dheisheh refugee camp, the official Wafa news agency reported. It said another child was shot in the hand during the raid.

The boy's death was also announced by the Palestinian health ministry.

He is the third Palestinian to be killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank this year, just days after its bloodiest year since 2005.

More than 200 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza last year, with some parts of the West Bank seeing almost daily army raids as Israeli forces cracked down on militant groups suspected of a wave of attacks in Israel.

The Israeli army said most of the dead were militants, but stone-throwing youths and non-combatants were also killed.

Two men were killed on Monday as Israeli forces demolished the homes of two men killed last year after shooting dead an Israeli commander.

Six others were wounded in a raid on Kafr Dan, near the hotspot of Jenin.

The army said rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown at border police officers during the raid on Tuesday.

Israel's border police are now under the direct control of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who sparked renewed outrage after visiting the contested Al Aqsa compound on Tuesday and drew ire from Jordan, which administers holy sites in East Jerusalem.

Mr Ben-Gvir has long visited the compound, sacred to both Jews and Muslims, as a parliamentarian, but his new status as minister gives the visit new weight and could plunge the region back into violence.

Several countries have expressed concern over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, the most right-wing in Israel's history.

Mr Ben-Gvir is one of several ministers who has shared anti-Palestinian views and he was previously banned from the Knesset, Israel's parliament, for inciting racism.

He has advocated for the death penalty for alleged Palestinian terrorists, and has long called for greater Jewish access and worship at Al Aqsa — a “red line” for custodian Jordan.