Palestinian officials reported that an Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian teenager on Friday near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The soldier claimed to have been attacked with “explosives.”
“A citizen died of critical wounds sustained by live bullets from the occupation (Israel) to the head,” in an incident in the village of Umm Safa, near Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.
In a later statement, the ministry identified the dead as Mohammed Al-Bayed, 17 years old.
In the meantime, the Israeli border police claimed in a statement that there had been a “violent disturbance” “during which suspects threw stones and explosives” at Israeli personnel.
“A security guard responded by shooting at a suspect who threw a bomb,” the police statement said, adding that “a hit was detected”.
An Israeli soldier was “slightly injured” by shrapnel during the clash, the statement said.
The incident happened as hostilities in the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since the Six-Day War in 1967, were on the rise.
Recent months have seen a rise in Israeli settler violence against Palestinians as well as a spate of Palestinian attacks against Israeli troops or settlers.
According to an AFP count taken from official sources from both sides, violence related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 197 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian, and one Italian this year.
