TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in a raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as part of a relentless wave of violence that has rocked the region for the past anus.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army, which has been mounting near-nightly raids on West Bank cities, towns and villages in what it says is an attempt to crack down on militancy. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire this year and 19 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks on Israelis during that time.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the teen as 17-year-old Jibril al-Laada. He said three others were seriously injured in the fighting, which took place in the Aqabat Jabr refugee camp near the West Bank city of Jericho. The camp has been a frequent target of Israeli raids.
Israel launched the raids after a series of Palestinian attacks last spring. That sparked some of the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in years and while Israel says the raids are aimed at thwarting future attacks, the violence against Israelis does not appear to be abating.
Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem last year, making 2022 the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to prominent Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Casualties have soared this year, with 98 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, with just under half affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press.
Israel says most of the dead have been armed fighters, but young people protesting the incursions have also been killed, as have people not involved in the clashes.
Palestinians see the raids as a further entrenchment of Israel’s 56-year indefinite occupation. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem for their long-awaited independent state. Israel captured those territories in the 1967 Middle East war.