Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in occupied West Bank

Rasa - Israeli military forces have shot dead a Palestinian teenage boy in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, after he allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack against soldiers stationed at a checkpoint there.

News ID: 429807

Date: 22 May 2017 - 22:16

RNA - Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld claimed that the 16-year-old, whose identity was not immediately available, was shot after he allegedly sought to stab Israeli border police at Container checkpoint northeast of Bethlehem, located about 10 kilometers south of Jerusalem al-Quds, on Monday afternoon.

No police officers were hurt in the purported assault.

The development came only two days after an Israeli settler killed a young Palestinian man and injured a journalist in the northern part of the West Bank during a march in solidarity with hundreds of Palestinian hunger-striking inmates in Israeli jails.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that 23-year-old Mutaz Hussien Hilal Bani Shamsa succumbed to his wounds shortly after the unidentified settler stepped out of his car and opened live fire on him near the town of Huwwarah, located 9 kilometers south of Nablus.

Palestinian journalist Majdi Eshtayya was also injured during the shooting and was transferred to Rafidia Hospital, where doctors described his gunshot wounds as moderate.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the ongoing tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flashpoint Islamic site, which is also holy to Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

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