Palestinian teen shot dead while throwing rocks

Soldiers fired on youth who was lobbing stones at cars near Hebron, IDF says; witnesses say troops used live fire

By Judah Ari Gross 10 February 2016, 2:24 pm Edit

Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

Illustrative: Palestinian protesters throw stones towards Israeli security forces during clashes in the West Bank city of Hebron on November 20, 2015. (AFP/Hazem Bader)

A Palestinian teenager who was allegedly pelting cars and IDF troops with rocks in the southern West Bank was shot and reportedly killed by soldiers on Wednesday afternoon.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the teen as Omar Jawabreh, 16, of the al-Aroub refugee camp north of Hebron. He was shot in the chest and died of his wounds in a Hebron hospital, the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.

While the IDF did not confirm Jawabreh’s death, it said soldiers engaged Palestinians who were throwing rocks at civilian vehicles on Road 60, the north-south thoroughfare in the central West Bank.

“During routine IDF security activity, forces spotted assailants hurling rocks at civilian vehicles on Route 60, adjacent to al-Aroub,” an IDF spokesperson said in a statement.

“Forces responded to the immediate threat and fired toward one of the attackers,” the statement said.