RAMALLAH: Israeli settlers or troops shot dead a young Palestinian on Friday, West Bank authorities said, the second such death in as many days. The violence comes as Israel faces mounting international criticism over the rise in settler violence, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has downplayed ahead of a general election on October 27. In the latest incident, Palestinians in Kobar near Ramallah tried to pass through a gate recently erected by settlers to keep them inside the village, an increasingly common tactic in the occupied territory. “When the young Palestinians tried to open it, the settlers attacked them,” Kobar’s Mayor Mounir Badwan told AFP. “The army arrived and they started shooting live bullets,” he said. Army bullets hit 19-year-old Baha Sami al-Natsheh, the mayor said. The Palestinian health ministry, however, said settlers shot him. The Israeli army “left him bleeding on the ground and prevented medical teams from reaching him,” the mayor said. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that Israeli forces refused to let it reach an injured person in Kobar. The Palestinian Authority body that coordinates with Israel said Natsheh, who lived in east Jerusalem, later died of his wounds and that “his body is being withheld by the Israeli authorities”. The Israeli military, contacted by AFP for its version of events, said it was checking. It was the second such killing in as many days. On Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said that settler gunfire killed 51-year-old Mashhour Yassin in Yasuf, north of Ramallah. The Israeli military said it was responding to Palestinians who were hurling rocks at Israelis, injuring one of them, and that troops opened fire. Netanyahu’s government, which includes far-right figures, has ramped up the construction of settlements in the occupied territory, which are illegal under international law. Violence has flared in parallel to Israel’s offensive in Gaza in response to the massive Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. Settler attacks against Palestinians including beatings, vandalism and arson averaged six a day in the first half of the year, according to the United Nations. Recent weeks have also seen high-profile attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, including the shooting death of a settler by a Palestinian. Netanyahu has dismissed violence by settlers as the work of a few delinquents and has denounced Britain, France and other countries for imposing sanctions on goods from Israeli settlements.