Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli troops in West Bank

Palestinian Health Ministry on Wednesday said that Israeli soldiers have killed a Palestinian teenager in the occupied territory of West Bank. According to media reports, Israeli troops opened fire on a group of demonstrators who gathered to protest following rumours of land confiscation by Israeli settlers in an area south of the city of Nablus in West Bank. According to the Palestinian health ministry, the teenager who died in the incident was 15 years old and he was killed by live ammunition fired by occupying forces. 

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As per reports, 18 other people were injured in the incident by rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas fired by Israeli troops. Media reports suggest that the clashes between the protesters and the forces began after demonstrators started pelting stones at soldiers from a hilltop near the Israeli settlement of Itamar. The Israeli army after the incident said they were looking into the incident. 

Israel occupied the West Bank from Jordan during the six-day war in 1967. Palestinians and much of the world view the settlement in the West Bank as illegal and describe the region as occupied territory. 

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Previous protests

Recently, thousands of Palestinians gathered near the Al-Nasir mosque in Nablus' victory square to protest against the United States and Israel. According to reports, people gathered after the Fajr (dawn) prayers on February 14 in Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to protest against the proposed peace deal by the United States to resolve the decades-long conflict in the region. Trump released his Middle East plan on January 28 in Washington in the presence of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. 

According to the proposed plan, Israel would get authority over West bank Jewish Settlements including Jerusalem as its capital. On the other hand, Palestine would get a state with a West Bank village east of Jerusalem as its capital but only if it fulfills certain conditions. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the state of Palestine rejected the deal saying the US cannot be the sole mediator. 

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