Hebron, March 19 (RHC) -- Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank city of Hebron on Wednesday, medical sources and witnesses said.

Yussef Sami Shawamreh, 16 years old, was shot near the Palestinian village of al-Ramadin, south of Hebron, when he and three of his friends were attempting to cross the separation fence between Israel and the Palestinian territories.

A Israeli military spokesperson said the teenage was trying to sabotage the fence.

"Troops identified him cutting the fence and called him to back off the fence," the spokesperson said. "He didn't listen to them, and they then opened fire to his legs."

Soldiers evacuated Shawamreh to Soroka hospital in Israel, where he later died of wounds.

His body is still held by Israeli forces at the hospital, sources confirmed. According to Palestinian official data, 46 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and the West Bank since the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli peace talks resumed last July.