Palestinian teen killed in Israeli West Bank raid

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid in the village of Burqin in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said on Saturday.

A Reuters witness said about 200 Palestinians were throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles when a shot was heard, adding that a wounded person was then carried to a car.

Israel’s military said its forces had been searching in Burqin for suspects involved in the fatal drive-by shooting of an Israeli settler from a nearby settlement on January 9.

Israeli forces in the adjacent city of Jenin last month shot and killed a Palestinian gunman whom they suspected of involvement in the settler’s shooting.

A military spokeswoman said rioting had broken out while troops were apprehending several suspects ‘connected’ with that shooting and troops responded with non-fatal “riot dispersal means” against Palestinians throwing rocks and then with live gunfire at the main instigators.

Read: Israeli soldiers call for ‘revenge unit’ against Palestinians

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the teenager killed on Saturday was 19 years old, while the hospital in Jenin where he was taken said he had been shot in the head.

The Israeli military said rioting had broken out while troops were apprehending several suspects connected with the shooting of the rabbi and troops had responded with non-fatal “riot dispersal means”.

Tensions in the region have risen since U.S. President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December, since when at least 20 Palestinians and one Israeli have been killed.