Palestinian and Israeli teens die amid West Bank and Jerusalem unrest
Israeli troops shot a Palestinian boy dead in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and an Israeli youth wounded by a purported Palestinian gunman earlier this week died of his injuries.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the dead teenager as Saeed Yusuf Muhammad Oudeh, 16.
A second Palestinian was shot in the back during clashes on Wednesday and was being treated in hospital, the ministry said.
The clashes took place as the Israeli military searched the area for a Palestinian gunman who opened fire on Sunday at a West Bank intersection, seriously wounding two Israelis and slightly injuring another.
One of the Israelis, Yehuda Guetta, 19, died of his wounds on Wednesday night, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said.
Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, said it arrested a Palestinian suspect over the shooting. The agency identified him as a 44-year-old resident of the village of Turmus Ayya.
Shin Bet said the man was not affiliated with any militant group.
The deaths follow weeks of tension in Jerusalem and the West Bank that included near-nightly clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police.
The Israeli military said troops fired towards Palestinians hurling Molotov cocktails at them late on Wednesday near the West Bank town of Beita, south of Nablus.
Residents of Beita and the nearby village of Odala say there have been clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops for the past several nights.
Tensions have been high in the West Bank and Jerusalem during Ramadan, peaking with several days of clashes near Jerusalem’s Old City between Israeli police officers and Palestinians over access to a popular night-time meeting spot.
In recent days, Palestinians scuffled with police during demonstrations against the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah district of East Jerusalem.
Several Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah have been embroiled in a long-running legal battle with Israeli settler groups that are trying to acquire property in the neighbourhood.
Late on Wednesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent medical service said several people were injured in clashes in Sheikh Jarrah, including three people who were hit by rubber bullets.
Israeli police reported making five arrests, including that of a protester wearing a medic’s uniform who, police said, threw rocks at the security forces.
Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza strip – territories the Palestinians want for a future state – in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
Israel annexed East Jerusalem in a move that still remains unrecognised internationally.
The Palestinians view East Jerusalem – which includes holy sites for Muslims, Jews and Christians – as their capital, and the city’s fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the entire Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
In the Gaza strip, the shadowy leader of the armed wing of the militant organisation Hamas this week issued his first public statement in nearly seven years, issuing a warning to Israel that it would pay a “heavy price” if it evicted Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem.
The deaths follow weeks of tension that included nightly clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police