Palestinian teen killed by IDF, allegedly while throwing heavy object from roof

A Palestinian teen was shot dead in the northern West Bank early Tuesday morning, after he apparently tried to drop a large object off a building on a soldier below, the military said.

The suspect, 15-year-old Imad Khaled Hashash, was shot while on the roof of a house in the Balata refugee camp, adjacent to the Palestinian city of Nablus.

He was rushed to the Rafidia Surgical Hospital in Nablus, where medical officials declared his death, Palestinian media reports said.

The Palestinian health ministry said Hashash died after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head.

The Israel Defense Forces said that during arrest operations in the refugee camp, shots were fired by Palestinians toward the troops, and the soldiers returned fire.

In addition, the IDF said, residents of the area threw bricks and other objects from the roofs of homes toward the forces.

הפלסטינים מדווחים על נער בן 17 שנהרג הלילה מירי צה"ל במהלך פעילות למעצר מבוקשים במחנה הפליטים בלאטה ליד שכם. לעבר כוחות צנחנים נורתה אש חייה והחל הפס"ד שכלל השלכת בלוקים וחפצים מגגות. לפי צה"ל הנער זוהה עם "חפץ" שהתכוון להשליך מגבוה ולכן נורה. המבוקש נעצר ונלקח לחקירה pic.twitter.com/KARxv7CUjJ

— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) August 24, 2021

“During the clashes, a number of troops identified a suspect on the roof of a building, holding a large object with both his hands, and tried to drop it on a soldier standing beneath the building,” the IDF said.

One of the soldiers opened fire toward Hashash, and confirmed he had been hit, according to the military.

There were no troops injured in the incident, the IDF said, adding that the arrest operation was successful and a suspect involved in “terror activities” was detained.

Last year, an Israeli soldier, Amit Ben-Ygal, was killed after a Palestinian dropped a large rock on him from the roof of a building near Jenin. A similar incident occurred in 2018, when a marble slab was thrown from the third floor of a building in a refugee camp near Ramallah, killing Ronen Lubarsky.

Since May, more than 40 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops — soldiers and border guards — including in a number of cases with questionable circumstances, most notably the shooting of a 12-year-old boy in what the Israel Defense Forces described as an apparent case of misidentification.