Ramallah, July 31 (RHC)-- Thousands of Palestinians have taken part in the funeral of a Palestinian teenager who was shot dead by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
Identified as Amjad Abu Alya by the Palestinian Health Ministry, the 16-year-old boy succumbed to his critical injuries as a result of live ammunition fired by Israeli soldiers in the chest during a military raid on the al-Mughair village, northeast of the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Friday.
According to witnesses, clashes erupted after the Israeli forces and settlers violently cracked down on a rally against settler attacks in the village. The protest had been called for by several popular committees and the Palestinian Authority’s Committee against the Wall and Settlements, which regularly organizes protests.
A journalist, who was present at the scene, told Al Jazeera that along with the Israeli forces, a group of settlers had arrived at the protest, including one armed with what appeared to be an M-16 rifle.
“Both the army and the settler were shooting at the protesters who were throwing rocks. When they both started shooting, the youth fell to the ground,” Hadi Sabarneh said.
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the teenager's killing as an "execution." A second Palestinian was also shot and wounded in the incident, health officials and witnesses said.
The Israeli military also said it was “aware of reports of a Palestinian that was killed,” adding that its troops had fired to disperse hundreds of Palestinians who had burned tires and hurled rocks at a road leading to the West Bank settlement of Kochav Hashachar.
The military claimed that it had “worked to restore order” after “clashes erupted between Palestinians and settlers, which involved throwing stones at one another.” Settler violence against Palestinians is a daily occurrence across the West Bank and elsewhere throughout the occupied territories.
Nearly 700,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds.
All Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on occupied land. The UN Security Council has on several resolutions condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement projects in the occupied Palestinian lands.
Palestinians want the West Bank as part of a future independent state with East al-Quds as its capital.
