Palestinian teen killed by Israeli fire in northern West Bank: authorities

Jerusalem, July 22 (EFE).- A Palestinian teenager was killed early Saturday morning when Israeli troops opened fire on the car in which he was traveling in the city of Sebastia, in the north of the occupied West Bank, official Palestinian sources reported.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the victim as 18-year-old Fawzi Hani Makhalfeh, who was declared dead at the hospital to which he was transferred by the Red Crescent emergency services.

In the car was another Palestinian youth, who was wounded in the shooting and arrested by Israeli troops, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

“Palestinian security sources said Israeli soldiers opened heavy fire at a car in Sebastia with two Palestinians inside, killing one and injuring the other, who was later arrested,” the agency said without elaborating on the motive for the shooting.

The Israeli army has not reported the incident in Sebastia, which in recent weeks has seen several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli settlers for control of the archaeological site of that city, one of the oldest in the area, with a Jewish, Roman, Islamic and Christian past.

On Friday, a 17-year-old was killed by Israeli gunfire in the town of Umm Safa, while on Thursday night a 19-year-old was also killed by Israeli fire during clashes that broke out as Israeli troops escorted a group of Jewish settlers to a religious site in the Palestinian city of Nablus.

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its biggest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05) and this year, 163 Palestinians have already died in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the majority militiamen in armed clashes with Israeli troops and attackers, but also civilians, including 28 minors.

In parallel, the area has seen the proliferation of new Palestinian armed groups, which carry out an increasing number of attacks and have left 27 dead on the Israeli side, most of them settlers, five of them minors and three uniformed. EFE

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