JERICHO: Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a morning arrest raid that led to clashes in a refugee camp outside the city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.
The Palestinian health ministry said 17-year-old Jibril Kamal died after being shot in the head. Six other people were wounded during the raid, with three of
them in serious condition, the ministry said.
Videos on social media showed a convoy of armoured military vehicles driving between houses as shots rang out in the distance. The military put up checkpoints controlling movement in and out of the area.
The Jericho raid came amid operations across the West Bank on Monday that ended in at least 17 arrests. Near the troubled northern West Bank city of Jenin, the Islamic Jihad movement said one of its officials Mahdi al-Sharqawi had been arrested. From the Jericho Hospital, director Naser Anani said: “The situation is very difficult. It exists in every city, in every refugee camp and it is the price we pay for resisting the occupation.”
Jericho Governor Jihad Abu al-Asal said the Israeli government must be held responsible. “We tell the world, don’t leave this refugee camp prey to this occupation.”
In a separate incident, the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli soldiers critically wounded a 20-year-old Palestinian in Bethlehem around dawn on Monday. The military said it was not aware of any people wounded in the Bethlehem area, where security forces confiscated weapons.
Israeli-Palestinian violence has surged this year, with frequent military raids and violence by Israeli settlers amid a spate of Palestinian attacks.
More than 90 Palestinians have been killed since January.
Israel captured the West Bank, which Palestinians hope will form the core of a future independent state, in the 1967 Middle East war.
— Reuters
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