Ramallah, Palestinian Territories– Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager Saturday at a refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest violence to rock the occupied territory.
The ministry identified the teenager as 16-year-old Milad Munther al-Raee. He was killed at the entrance to Al-Arroub refugee camp near the city of Hebron, it said.
He was “shot in the back by the occupation (Israeli) bullets”, the ministry said in a statement.
The Israeli military said “terrorists hurled molotov cocktails” at soldiers who were at a military post adjacent to the camp.
“The soldiers responded with riot dispersal means and live fire. A hit was identified,” it said in a statement.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that Israeli forces had fired “live bullets and tear gas canisters at several young men and children” at the entrance to the camp, adding that the teenager died of his wounds.
Saturday’s incident is the latest in the West Bank, where violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has surged since early last year.
At least 227 Palestinians have been killed so far this year in incidents linked to the conflict.
The bloodshed has also seen 32 Israelis, a Ukrainian and an Italian killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on both sides.
They include, on the Palestinian side, combatants as well as civilians and, on the Israeli side, three members of the Arab minority.