West News Wire: Early on Thursday morning, Israeli troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya.
Fares Sharhabeel Abu Samra was the casualty, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, and he was shot in the head.
According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli troops raided a suburb close to Qalqilya, sparking clashes.
Israeli troops shot at civilians with live and rubber-coated metal bullets, stun grenades and tear gas.
In response to “rioters” throwing “stones and Molotov cocktails” at soldiers, the Israeli military claimed it fired into the air. Abu Samra’s death was also mentioned as being under investigation.
After killing Palestinian citizens in the West Bank, the military issues nearly identical statements, frequently claiming that soldiers were defending themselves against an attack.
Rights organisations have attacked it for its “shoot-to-kill” policy, even when Palestinians do not present a threat to soldiers, and it rarely conducts investigations into the deaths of Palestinians by its troops.
Less than 1% of troops accused of hurting Palestinians between 2017 and 2021 were ever charged with a crime, according to a report published in 2022 by the Israeli rights organisation Yesh Din.
The group claimed that the military’s legal authorities “systematically avoid investigating and prosecuting soldiers who harm Palestinians.”
Mohammad Abdel-Hakim Nada, 23, died in the hospital after being struck in the chest by Israeli gunfire on Wednesday.
Israeli troops raided the Al-Ain refugee camp in Nablus in the late morning to arrest some Palestinians, local media said.
At least 202 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year, including 35 children – a rate of nearly one fatality per day.
A total of 165 people have died in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, making 2023 one of the bloodiest years in the occupied Palestinian territories. Another 36 people were killed in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, Palestinians have killed 25 Israelis in the same period, including six children.
