Zionist forces shoot, kill Palestinian teen in West Bank

Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian teenager, whom they alleged to have carried out a shooting attack in the central part of the occupied West Bank at the weekend, which killed an Israeli soldier as well as a rabbi and severely injured a settler.

Israeli media outlets reported that 19-year-old Omar Amin Abu Lila was shot dead during a shootout in the village of Abwein, located about 37 kilometers north of Ramallah, late on Tuesday night after Israeli special units surrounded the house he was in.

The development came a day after Israeli army and Shin Bet security service arrested relatives of Abu Lila, a resident of the village of Az-Zawiya, and mapped the family’s house in preparation of a possible demolition. Dozens of young Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in response, with local reports saying several were wounded as Israeli troops opened fire at the protesters.

In another attack, two young Palestinian men were shot dead by Israeli soldiers near Joseph’s Tomb on the outskirts of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

Witnesses told Palestinian Safa news agency that an Israeli a military bulldozer hit a car, which was carrying the Palestinians, and then Israeli soldiers engaged them with direct fire. Israeli forces reportedly prevented Palestinian paramedics and ambulances from reaching the area.

The two young Palestinian men were later identified as 21-year-old Raed Hashim Hamdan and Zaid Anad Mohammed Nuri, 20.

Tensions are high in the West Bank over ongoing Israeli aggression at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.

On Sunday, the Jerusalem al-Quds Magistrate’s Court announced that it had accepted a request by Israeli officials to temporarily close Bab al-Rahma (Gate of Mercy) prayer area at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Jordan condemned the court ruling, with its Foreign Ministry saying that Israel would bear “full responsibility for the dangerous consequences” of the decision.

Prayer area of the al-Rahma Gate was closed on February 25 upon an order by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and reopened the following day.

Israel had closed the gate that leads to the prayer space in al-Aqsa Mosque since 2003 in the face of the Second Intifada (uprising) against the regime’s occupation.

On February 22, however, the Waqf Council, which oversees the holy sites at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, decided to re-open the prayer space at the Bab al-Rahma Gate in defiance of Israel’s 16-year-old ban. Hundreds of worshipers, led by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem al-Quds, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, entered the area for the first time since 2003 for Friday prayers.

Angered by the move, the Tel Aviv regime launched an arrest campaign against Palestinians. The arrests drew criticisms from Palestinians and Jordan. The Islamic Waqf organization and Palestinian institutions have insisted on keeping the Bab al-Rahma prayer area open for Muslim worship.

Palestinians have repeatedly warned of Israeli attempts to change the status quo of the al-Aqsa compound, the third holiest site in Islam.