RAMALLAH, April 5 — The Israeli army said yesterday that its soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who threw stones at troops near the occupied West Bank village of Husan, whose mayor told AFP the boy was 17.
The army said that on Thursday evening “several terrorists hurled rocks toward Road 375 adjacent to Husan… Soldiers who were operating in the area responded with fire toward the terrorists, eliminated one terrorist and hit an additional terrorist”.
Husan mayor Jamal Sabateen said the army had opened fired on youngsters throwing stones in the village west of Bethlehem.
“The Israeli army opened fire on them —killed one and injured another. The army took them, and up until now, they haven’t been returned,” Sabateen told AFP.
The West Bank-based Palestinian health ministry reported the killing of the young man “by Israeli gunfire” and identified him as Yussef Zaoul.
Husan sits seven kilometres (four miles) west of Bethlehem, in a region usually quieter than the northern cities of Jenin and Tulkarem, bastions of Palestinian militancy where the Israeli military has been operating for months.
Yet in recent weeks, Palestinian sources pointed to several Israeli raids and dozens of arrests in the area, including in the city of Bethlehem.
The health ministry also reported the death of 42-year-old Hussein Hardan on Friday.
It said Hardan was killed “by Israeli gunfire” in Jenin at dawn.
When questioned by AFP, the Israeli military said it had operated to apprehend “a terrorist”.
During the operation, the man attempted to flee and soldiers opened fire, killing the man, the army said.
Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, violence has soared in the West Bank.
Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 917 Palestinians, including militants, in the territory since then, according to health ministry figures.
Palestinian attacks and clashes during military raids have killed at least 33 Israelis, including soldiers, over the same period, according to official figures.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. — AFP