A Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon, during protests in the West Bank city of Hebron, hours after Israel killed three Palestinians in Nablus.
According to the Palestinian health ministry, the victim was 17-year-old Momen Jaber, a 10th grade student from Hebron’s old city. He was pronounced dead at the Ahli hospital in Hebron, where he arrived after receiving a live bullet in the chest.
“Protests started in Hebron’s old city following as news broke of three Palestinian militants killed in Nablus on Tuesday morning”, a resident of Hebron's old city who asked not to be name told The New Arab.
“Protests soon turned into confrontations between protesters and Israeli forces at the Israeli military checkpoint blocking Shuhada Street, then spread to other parts of the old city”, they detailed.
“Momen Jaber was shot in the chest, and another young man in the thigh in Bab Al-Zawiyah neighborhood, where confrontations usually take place between Palestinians and Israeli forces”, he added.
“As soon as the news spread that Momen was wounded, several family members rushed to the hospital”, Aref Jaber, the victim’s uncle and a human rights activist told The New Arab.
“Momen’s parents were devastated when they learned that he died, to the point that they can’t speak to anyone”, added Jaber, who spoke to the press on behalf of the victim’s family.
Confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in Hebron’s old city intensified after news spread of the teenager’s death.
Early on Tuesday, Israeli forces raided Nablus’ old city, in the northern West Bank, and killed three Palestinian militants after intense gunfight, including a prominent leader of Fatah’s ‘Al-Aqsa Brigades’ armed wing.
The killing came only two days after a truce was reached between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, following four days of military escalation on Gaza, in which 46 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes, mostly civilians.
General strike was declared in several West Bank cities in sign of mourning for the militants killed in Nablus, as confrontations erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces. In Ramallah, nine Palestinian protesters were wounded by Israeli forces, on Tuesday’s afternoon at the city’s northern entrance.
The Israeli unilateral escalation in the West Bank raises fears of a new round of violence, as the toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday alone reached four, 130 since the beginning of the year.
Earlier on Tuesday, the UN Security Council held a special meeting to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip. At the meeting, the UN envoy to the Middle East called the truce between Israel and the PIJ "fragile", while warning that "any resumption of hostilities will only have devastating consequences for Palestinians and Israelis".