Palestinian teen said killed in clashes with IDF along Gaza border

Health officials in Hamas-ruled enclave say 16-year-old was shot by Israeli soldiers

A Palestinian teenager was reportedly killed during clashes between protesters and IDF soldiers along the Gaza border fence on Friday.

The Israeli military said violent clashes broke out in several areas near the security fence as soldiers tried to prevent damage to the structure.

The army said soldiers opened fire on a number of protesters leading the disturbances and was looking into the reported death.

The Health Ministry in Gaza, ruled by the Palestinian terror group Hamas, said Abdulrahman Abu Hmeisa, 16, was killed in the clashes east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Friday, a Palestinian man who tried to stab Israeli soldiers at the Gush Etzion Junction was shot dead, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian arrived at the scene armed with a knife and ran toward IDF soldiers,” the army said in a statement. “Forces fired shots at the assailant. No injuries to IDF forces were reported.”

The assailant was identified by Palestinian media as Abdullah Takaatka, 24, from Bethlehem.

Palestinian rioting was reported on Friday in several locations in the West Bank, including in nearby Bethlehem and Hebron.

Prayers in and around the Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, however, ended peacefully.

The past two weeks had seen heightened tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank in the wake of a July 14 attack at the Temple Mount in which three terrorists shot dead two Israeli police officers near the compound with weapons they had smuggled onto the site.

Following the attack, Israel had set up security measures at the holy site, which set off near-daily clashes and riots. Muslim worshipers boycotted the compound until Israel removed all the security installations on Thursday.

On Friday, extra police and border guard officers were deployed to Jerusalem hotspots, and the military beefed up its presence in the West Bank, a week after heavy clashes in the capital and West Bank left five Palestinians dead and saw a Palestinian terrorist stab to death three Israelis at their Shabbat meal in the West Bank settlement of Halamish.