Palestinian boy killed by Israeli army in West Bank

Ramallah, April 24 (IANS) A 12-year-old Palestinian boy was killed during clashes with the Israeli army in the town of Yamoun, southwest of Jenin in the northern West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a press statement on Wednesday, the Ministry identified the boy as Mahmoud Abu al-Haija, without providing further details.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a press statement that its workers transferred the body of the boy, who "was shot in the cheek and abdomen with live ammunition," to Jenin Governmental Hospital.

Local sources and eyewitnesses told Xinhua that Israeli military vehicles raided the town, prompting clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian youths, during which Israeli soldiers fired live bullets and tear gas canisters.

In a separate development, eight Palestinians were injured, including one by gunfire, and three agricultural structures were burned in attacks by Israeli settlers in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah, according to Palestinian security sources.

The sources told Xinhua that Israeli forces prevented civil defence and ambulance teams from reaching the injured and extinguishing the fires, Xinhua news agency reported.

In a press statement, the Sinjil Village Council urged residents to head to the affected area to confront the settlers and prevent further attempts to seize their land.

So far there has been no comment from the Israeli side regarding these incidents.

Tension has been high in the occupied West Bank, where more than 956 Palestinians have been killed and over 7,000 injured since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land illegal and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In 2024, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 93 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP.

Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 71 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 17 Palestinian children were killed in drone strikes, three Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli warplane airstrike, one child was killed by Israeli-fired ground shell, and one child was killed by unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by Israeli forces.

--IANS

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