Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen in West Bank raid

Israeli forces killed a 17-year-old Palestinian boy on Tuesday during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The teenager, Hamzeh al-Ashkar, was shot in the face by Israeli soldiers who raided the northern city of Nablus at around dawn, the ministry said.
“He was armed and was firing on the [Israeli] forces.”

IDF spokesperson on the death of a Palestinian teenager in Nablus

“He was armed and was firing on the [Israeli] forces,” a military spokesperson said when asked about the incident.

The Lions’ Den, a group of Nablus fighters with loose factional affiliations, said some of its members exchanged fire with Israeli forces who had “stormed a housing area.”

The group said the teenager who was killed was from the Askar refugee camp near Nablus but did not say he was a group member.

Border Police officers operating in Jenin, July 12, 2021 (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)

Also early on Tuesday, Israeli forces arrested at least 18 Palestinians in the northern West Bank town of Burkin near Jenin, the Palestinian Prisoners Club advocacy group said.

Violence escalates in the West Bank

The operations come during a time of heightened tensions that have drawn fears of a further escalation in violence.

On Jan. 27, a Palestinian gunman killed seven Israelis near a synagogue in east Jerusalem, a day after an Israeli raid in the West Bank city of Jenin in which 10 Palestinians including eight gunmen were killed.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least 42 Palestinians, civilians and militants, have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since Jan. 1.

Israel says the raids are a security measure targeting suspected militants. Palestinians consider the raids a form of collective punishment and say they are fighting against decades of Israeli occupation.

The violence has prompted calls for calm on both sides from the United States and international organizations including the United Nations.