Israeli troops scouring a West Bank militant stronghold killed a Palestinian teenager and wounded at least 17 other people in clashes with stone throwers on yesterday, witnesses and medics said.
Israeli troops scouring a West Bank militant stronghold killed a Palestinian teenager and wounded at least 17 other people in clashes with stone throwers on yesterday, witnesses and medics said.
They said a 17-year-old was fatally shot in the chest while confronting troops, who have stepped up searches in Nablus since a local suicide bomber killed three off-duty Israeli soldiers and a teenage girl outside Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Six of the wounded Palestinians were shot by live ammunition and 11 by rubber bullets in clashes, witnesses and medics said.
A military spokesman denied troops fired live ammunition, saying they responded with rubber bullets and tear gas after coming under a barrage of stones and Molotov cocktails in various areas of Nablus. He had no word on casualties.
The Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of several groups waging a three-year-old uprising, claimed responsibility for Thursday's suicide bombing, calling it revenge for the killing of four gunmen in Nablus last week.
Israeli troops and tanks have effectively bisected the bustling valley city. A government spokesman said the Nablus sweep was made in response to intelligence alerts of imminent militant attacks.
In the West Bank town of Qalqilya, troops threw smoke grenades at demonstrators hurling stones at them in a protest against a concrete barrier Israel erected around the community.
Medics said 13 protesters were treated for smoke inhalation.
Palestinians say the vast barrier of razor-wire fences, concrete walls and trenches Israel is building grabs land from West Bank territory they see as part of a future state. Israel says the barrier is needed to keep out suicide bombers.
On Friday, Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of protesters trying to breach the barrier near Qalqilya, wounding an Israeli and an American.
Lieutenant-General Moshe Yaalon, Israel's army chief of staff, said the incident was "serious" and that the army would investigate to draw any necessary conclusions.