Palestinian killed by IDF fire after checkpoint attacked
Death of teen likely to exacerbate already heightened tensions in the West Bank
A Palestinian teen was killed by IDF fire Wednesday night after being part of a group of Palestinians throwing firebombs at an Israeli position in the northern West Bank Wednesday night.
A second Palestinian was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Tulkarem, and more may have been hit as well, according to initial reports.
The Israeli army said a group of Palestinians attacked a checkpoint near the Palestinian town of Anabta, east of TulKarem, hurling Molotov cocktails at troops stationed there at about 10:30 p.m.
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Soldiers shot back at the Palestinians with live fire, hitting at least two people and killing Amer Ibrahim Nassar. Initial media reports listed his age as either 16 or 17.
Mohammed Ayyad, a spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent, said a 17-year-old Palestinian was killed in a clash between the Israeli army and Palestinian stone-throwers at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Tulkarem. He was hit by a bullet in the chest, Ayyad told the Associated Press.
A soldier was also injured and taken to a nearby hospital in the incident. The condition of the soldier was not immediately clear. The IDF said it is investigating the live fire incident.
Nassar’s death will likely exacerbate already heightened tensions in the West Bank, where low-level violence has broken out since the death of a Palestinian prisoner of cancer on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of Palestinians clashed with IDF soldiers at locations throughout the West Bank, in response to the death the previous day of prisoner Maysara Abuhamdia.
Dozens of Palestinians threw Molotov cocktails and stones in Hebron and burned tires in the central square before the soldiers dispersed them. An IDF officer was lightly injured
At the entrance to Nablus, some 100 Palestinians gathered and temporarily blocked access to the city. In Beit Omar, security forces came under attack, and along Route 60 and near the West Bank town of Ariel, Israeli vehicles were showered with stones.
Palestinians also clashed with troops outside the Ofer military prison, near Ramallah.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
