Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager and critically wound another child in West Bank

Israeli forces shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian and critically wounded another child in the occupied West Bank Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Israeli soldiers arrived at the West Bank town of Azzun, Qalqilya province, to search 'suspects' after fireworks were allegedly launched at Israeli vehicles driving past, the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that teenager Mohammad Nidal Salim, 15, was "killed by bullets in the back fired at him by the occupation (Israeli) soldiers".

Two others were wounded, including a child who is in critical condition, the ministry added, without giving their ages.

Israeli forces shot and killed 17-year-old Mohammad Nidal Ibrahim Salim today around 9 p.m. in the Palestinian town of Azzoun, 9 km east of Qalqilya in the northern occupied West Bank. Mohammad is the 14th Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces in 2023. pic.twitter.com/0IRPaU9FFE

— Defense for Children (@DCIPalestine) March 2, 2023

In a statement, the Israeli army claimed that "several suspects hurled Molotov cocktails at the soldiers" and that "the soldiers responded with live ammunition".

They also said it was "aware of reports stating that some of those suspects were injured".

The Palestinian teenager's death is the latest amid a surge in Israeli violence in the occupied territories, and specifically in the West Bank, which Israel invaded and has occupied since the Six-Day War of 1967.

At least 65 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in 2023 so far, in what has been described as some of the deadliest months in recent Palestinian memory.

Late on Sunday, the Palestinian town of Hawara came under attack by illegal Israeli settlers, hours after two settlers were killed as they drove through the northern West Bank town.

Hundreds of settlers set homes and cars ablaze and hurled stones in Huwara overnight, and a Palestinian man - Sameh Aqtash - was killed in the nearby village of Zaatara.

Aqtash was a Palestinian relief worker who had recently returned to the West Bank after he volunteered to help with Turkey's recent earthquake victims.

On Wednesday, Israeli forces besieged the town of Jericho and conducted a raid on the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp, which killed a Palestinian man identified as 22-year-old Mahmoud Jamal Hassan Hamdan, after an Israeli-American motorist was killed on Monday.

The recent attacks come as the occupied city of Nablus witnessed a deadly massacre in late February, where Israeli forces killed 11 Palestinians, including an elderly man.