RAMALLAH, March 28 (Reuters) – The Israeli military killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy near Bethlehem late on Friday, according to the Palestinian health ministry, as violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank surges.
The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that the 15-year-old boy had died after arriving at the hospital in a critical condition with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
The boy had been shot in the Dheisheh camp during an Israeli military raid, the Palestinian WAFA state news agency reported.
The Israeli military said a Palestinian was killed after soldiers opened fire during what it described as a “violent riot” in which stones were thrown at soldiers near Bethlehem. The statement did not identify the Palestinian killed or specify why Israeli forces were in the area.
It was the third reported Palestinian killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces on Friday. The WAFA earlier on Friday reported that two Palestinian men had been shot dead by Israeli forces.
The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since October 2023 when Hamas carried out its deadly attack on Israel from Gaza.
Since then, the military has tightened restrictions on Palestinian movement in the West Bank, and launched raids that have displaced entire communities, while violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has increased.
Palestinians have also carried out deadly attacks against Israelis.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, writing by Alexander Cornwell, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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