Israeli troops kill Palestinian teenager
TELA VIV: A Palestinian teenager has died ater being shot during clashes with Israeli soldiers at a protest over illegal setlements in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian authorities said on Saturday.
Seventeen-year-old Mohammed Munir Al Tamimi, who suffered gunshot wounds, died later in hospital, the Palestinian health ministry said, a day ater the violence in the flashpoint Palestinian village of Beita.
The Red Crescent said 320 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, including 21 by live fire, 68 by rubber-tipped bullets and many others by tear gas.
Hundreds of Palestinians had gathered in the aternoon in the village of Beita, a hot spot in recent months, to protest against the wildcat setlement of Eviatar, located nearby, a photographer said.
The Israeli army said its soldiers had responded “with riot dispersal means.”
Israel said two of its soldiers were “lightly injured” in the violence.
Beita has been the scene of frequent unrest since May, when dozens of Israeli families arrived and began building the setlement on a hilltop near Nablus in defiance of Israeli and international law.
Ater weeks of clashes and tensions, the government of nationalist Israeli Prime Minister Natali Bennet struck a deal with the setlers that saw them leave the Eviatar outpost.
The setlers let behind the rudimentary homes they built until the Israeli defence ministry determines whether the land can be considered state territory. The Israeli military is maintaining a presence in Eviatar until the decision is made.
The agreement was rejected by the mayor of Beita, who said on Thursday that “clashes and protests will continue” as long as any Israeli “remains on our land.”
All Jewish setlements in the West Bank are regarded as illegal by most of the international community.
Former UN rights chief Navi Pillay will lead the United Nations’ open-ended inquiry into “systematic” abuses in Israel and the Palestinian territories, it was announced on Thursday.
The UN Human Rights Council’s president said Pillay would lead a three-person investigation into abuses and their “root causes” in the decades-long conflict.
A commission of inquiry (COI) is the highest-level investigation that can be ordered by the council.
The probe was triggered during a special session of the council held on May 27 to discuss the surge in deadly violence between Israelis and Palestinians earlier in the month.