Israeli troops shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager and critically wounded another in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said.
“The child Muhammad Nidal Salim, 15, was killed by bullets in the back fired at him by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers in the town of Azzun,” the health ministry said in a statement.
Two others were wounded, including a child in critical condition, the ministry added without giving their ages.
The latest death came amid a surge in violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and specifically in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.
Late on Sunday, the Palestinian town of Huwara came under attack by Israeli settlers, hours after two settlers were shot dead as they drove through the northern West Bank town.
Hundreds of settlers set homes and cars ablaze and hurled stones in Huwara overnight, and a Palestinian man was killed in the nearby village of Zaatara.
On Monday, gunmen shot dead an Israeli-American motorist, and on Wednesday Israeli forces searching for suspects in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near Jericho killed a Palestinian man.
Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 65 Palestinian adults and children, including militants and civilians.
Thirteen Israeli adults and children, including members of the security forces and civilians, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period, according to an AFP tally based on official sources from both sides.
On Sunday, Israeli and Palestinian officials pledged in a joint statement to “prevent further violence” and “commit to de-escalation” following talks in Jordan.
AFP
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