Israeli forces kill 14-year-old Palestinian boy in West Bank’s Jenin

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager Sunday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the army reporting they came under fire during a raid.

The ministry reported 14-year-old Qusai Radwan Waked died “as a result of being seriously wounded in the abdomen by live fire from the occupation (Israel)” in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank.

The army said Israeli forces were shot at while they were trying to arrest an alleged Palestinian militant, while “explosive devices and rocks” were also thrown at them.

“We are aware of the reports regarding a number of armed individuals who got injured during the exchange of fire,” an army statement said, adding that no troops were hurt.

An AFP photographer saw the teenager’s body wrapped in a sheet and being carried on a stretcher.

The latest killing comes as violence flares in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

This year there have been 46 Palestinian fatalities, including attackers, militants and civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official statements.

Nine Israeli civilians and one Ukrainian have been killed over the same period.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian mourners gathered for the funeral of a 27-year-old man shot dead allegedly by an Israeli settler.

Mithkal Suleiman Rayyan was shot in the head Saturday near the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, where the army reported “heavy clashes between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians.”

Attia Asi, who witnessed the killing, said the shooting happened before soldiers arrived.

“In the beginning it was in the air, then it turned toward the (Palestinian) guys, aiming to kill,” he told AFP at the funeral.

The latest raid in Jenin by Israeli forces led to the arrest of Jebril Zubeidi, who the military said is accused of “terrorist activity against security forces and planning attacks.”

The city’s deputy governor, Kamal Abu al-Rub, said Jebril Zubeidi is the brother of jailed Zakaria Zubeidi, who headed the armed wing of the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Zakaria Zubeidi was the alleged mastermind of a daring prison break in 2021, in which he and five fellow Palestinians escaped a high-security facility in northern Israel before being recaptured.