Two Palestinians killed as West Bank violence simmers – sources

Two Palestinian youths were shot dead in the occupied West Bank on Friday in separate incidents, one by Jewish settlers who attacked a local village and one by Israeli soldiers in confrontations during a military raid, Palestinian sources said.

Residents of Burqa said Israeli settlers entered their village, threw rocks and set fire to cars.

“The youth of the village went out to confront them using stones. Settlers opened fire, they killed one person and wounded others,” said one witness who asked not to be named.

The Palestinian health Ministry said a 19-year-old died in the incident. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.

Washington has expressed concern over growing attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian villages in the West Bank, where violence has worsened since last year with stepped-up Israeli raids amid Palestinian street attacks on Israelis.

Earlier on Friday, near the West Bank city of Tulkarm, the Israeli military said soldiers shot at suspects who fired weapons and hurled explosives and stones at its troops. It said hits were identified and reported no injuries to its forces.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said an 18-year-old was shot in the head and killed. Amjad Zeidan, who said he witnessed the incident from about 200 metres away said that he did not see the youth killed carrying weapons or explosives.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the killing as a “field execution” and called on the International Criminal Court to “break its silence and promptly complete its investigation into the crimes of the occupation”.

U.S.-brokered peace talks aimed at establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, collapsed in 2014 and show no sign of revival.

Israel captured those territories in the 1967 war. Its settlements in the West Bank, where Palestinian have limited self-rule, are considered by most countries as illegal, a view that Israel disputes.