Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in occupied West Bank, arrests two suspects for Hebron shooting

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teen during clashes that followed a military raid in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, 22 August, official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.

The Israeli military claimed it was looking into the report. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the death of a 17-year-old in the flashpoint city of Jenin in the northern occupied West Bank, where violence by Israeli forces has intensified for months. 

Meanwhile, Israeli forces claimed on Tuesday they had arrested two Palestinians suspected of shooting dead an illegal Israeli settler near Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

Two Palestinian residents of Hebron suspected of being the perpetrators of the shooting were arrested, the army said, after roads in the vicinity of the attack were blocked and an extensive manhunt was conducted.

"During their initial questioning, the two linked themselves to carrying out the attack," the army claimed in a statement, adding they had turned in the weapon allegedly used in the attack.

The attack came two days after two Israeli settlers were shot dead at a car wash in the town of Hawara in the West Bank.

Israel has yet to make any arrests in that case despite a search operation that has seen troops raid villages and carry out house-to-house searches.

There has been a surge in Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank since early last year, with repeated deadly Israeli army raids and violence by Jewish settlers against Palestinian communities.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 war when it also seized the Gaza Strip but withdrew from it in 2005, yet remains controls of all land, air, and sea borders. 

Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank is home to nearly three million Palestinians and around 490,000 Israelis living in illegal settlements under international law.

More than 220 Palestinians have been killed so far this year by Israel. According to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on both sides, some 31 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, have also been killed.