Palestinian teen said killed in clashes with IDF troops in West Bank

A Palestinian teenager wounded during clashes with Israeli troops in the southern West Bank on Tuesday died of his wounds, according to Palestinian medical officials.

“Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with [Israeli forces] in the Fawwar camp,” the Palestinian health ministry said in a statement.

Earlier Palestinian medical officials said some 35 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes in the al-Fawar refugee camp, as the IDF carried out an overnight operation to uncover weapons and ammunition.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said live fire struck about 10 people after rioters threw large rocks at Israeli troops. It says the 25 others were struck by rubber bullets.

The IDF said its forces were on an overnight operation “to uncover weaponry” in the camp, when “dozens of Palestinians hurled IEDs (improvised explosive devices), blocks and rocks” at them.

Dozens of Palestinians reported wounded at al-Fawwar Refugee Camp by Israeli occupation live fire pic.twitter.com/MFJLSL3uuO

— Palestine Video (@PalestineVideo) August 16, 2016

The troops “responded with riot dispersal means and fired 0.22 caliber bullets toward main instigators,” an IDF spokeswoman said, adding that the troops had found “two improvised handguns, other weapons and ammunition.”

The military said it fired toward the riot’s main instigators to try to prevent escalation. The clashes continued until around noon, an AFP photographer reported.

Palestinians clash with IDF forces in Al-Fawwar refugee camp south of Hebron, August 16 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)

The army closed off the Fawar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman belonging to a Hamas terror cell fired on a car carrying an Israeli family on a nearby West Bank road, causing the vehicle to crash. The driver, Rabbi Miki Mark from Otniel, was killed and his wife and two children were injured in the attack.

Israel arrested more than a dozen Palestinians in connection with the terror attack.

The Israeli army has also been clamping down on Palestinian workshops manufacturing arms in the West Bank.

The Hebron area has been a key center of a wave of deadly violence that has rocked Israel and the Palestinian territories since last October.

Thirty-four Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in the wave of Palestinian terrorism and violence. Over 200 Palestinians have also been killed in that time period, most of them while carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.