RAMALLAH: The Palestinian health ministry said Tuesday that Israeli troops had shot and killed a 13-year-old boy near the occupied West Bank’s main city of Ramallah.
The Israeli army also bulldozed the main street in the Nur Shams refugee camp in a separate operation, Palestinian officials said, highlighting a spike in tensions since the Gaza war erupted on October 7.
Ghassan Gharib Zahran “was martyred by occupation bullets” at Deir Abu Mishal, near Ramallah, a health ministry statement said.
The Israeli army told AFP that “terrorists threw stones at Israeli vehicles in the Deir Abu Mishal area.”
Troops “responded by opening fire... which led to the injury of one of the terrorists,” the army added in a separate statement.
The boy’s cousin, Munther Zahran, said the dead boy was hit by a “bullet in the stomach” while he was in the main street in Deir Abu Mishal.
“The road is used by settlers and the army is constantly monitoring it,” he added.
Occupied by Israel since 1967, the West Bank has seen an escalation in violence since the Hamas attack on southern Israel set off a bitter conflict in the Gaza Strip over nine months ago.
At least 572 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli troops or settlers since October 7, according to Palestinian officials.
The Nur Shams camp, near Tulkarem, has also been the target of several army operations in recent weeks.
Army bulldozers tore up the camp’s main street and destroyed several buildings on Tuesday, an AFP journalist saw.
Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohammed Mustafa said there would be major “humanitarian repercussions” from the Israeli action.
“Recent events have shown the unprecedented destruction of essential infrastructure, including the water and electricity networks, and significant demolition” of Palestinian homes, Mustafa said in a statement.
Palestinian health ministry says teen killed in Israeli operation
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Palestinian health ministry says teen killed in Israeli operation
- The boy’s cousin said the dead boy was hit by a “bullet in the stomach” while he was in the main street in Deir Abu Mishal
- “The road is used by settlers and the army is constantly monitoring it,” he added
UN chief says those behind ‘unacceptable’ Homs attack must face justice
- France says the "terror" attack is designed to destabilize the country
UNITED NATIONS/PARIS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the deadly attack on Friday prayers at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. He stresses that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
France also condemned the attack, calling it an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country.
The attack “is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria and the transition government,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
It condemned what it said was an attempt to “compromise ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability.”
The attack, during Friday prayers, was the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, the extremist group Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
