ISRAELI TROOPS HAVE shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus today, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the Israeli army saying he had fired on soldiers.

The Palestinian ministry said Hamza Amjad al-Ashqar, 17, was “killed by a bullet in the face fired by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers during the aggression on Nablus”.

The Israeli army said troops had “responded with live fire towards an armed suspect who fired at them”.

“A hit was identified,” the army said in a statement, adding that “rocks, explosive devices and Molotov cocktails were hurled at the soldiers” conducting the raid.

A military spokesperson could not immediately tell AFP what weapon the armed suspect had fired.

A Palestinian security source, who was not authorised to speak to the media, said Ashqar was from Nablus’s Askar refugee camp.

Three people were arrested during the Israeli raid on the city, the source added.

No Palestinian militant group immediately claimed Ashqar as a member.

The Lions’ Den, a local militant alliance that boasts recruits from across the longstanding factions, said its fighters had been involved in the clashes but did not claim Ashqar as a member.

Separately, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said around 20 Palestinians were arrested in Burqin, near the flashpoint city of Jenin.

There has been a mounting death toll from a spate of Israeli raids in West Bank towns and cities in recent months.

On Monday, Israeli forces killed five suspected Palestinian gunmen in a raid in Jericho, in the Jordan Valley, after a days-long search for suspects in a shooting in a restaurant near the city.

Since the start of the year, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has claimed the lives of 42 Palestinians – including attackers, militants and civilians. Six Israeli civilians, including a child, and one Ukrainian civilian have been killed over the same period.

- © AFP 2023