Israeli troops shoot Palestinian dead during Hebron protests

Palestinians on social media mourned a "dearest friend" after he was shot dead on Friday by Israeli soldiers in Hebron city, in the illegally occupied West Bank.

Mohammed Zain al-Jabari, a 24-year-old, was shot during the clashes in Bab al-Zawiya area in Hebron, and later died in hospital, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

According to al-Jabari's friends, he was shot in the chest despite having "physical and mental limitations".

Palestinian media outlets say that Jabari was deaf and mute. 

The Israeli army spokesperson told AFP that "A riot had broken out in Hebron and troops fired live rounds towards a main instigator who held a firebomb", adding an investigation had been launched.

This is one of several investigations the Israeli army has launched following the shooting of Palestinian civilians since December.

In January, the Israeli army killed 16-year-old Musaab al-Tamimi, in the village of Deir Nitham in the central occupied West Bank. Tamimi was the first Palestinian to be killed by Israel in 2018.

The Israeli army launched an investigation into Tamimi's killing and the army spokesperson told MEE that "troops had identified a rioter armed with a firearm during a violent riot involving dozens of Palestinians".

Another investigation was launched in December by the Israeli army of the shooting of 29-year-old Ibrahim Abu Thuraya, a Palestinian man killed on the Gaza border during clashes with Israeli soldiers. 

He died instantly after being shot in the head by an Israeli soldier, as clashes turned violent in the Gaza buffer zone. Abu Thuraya had previously lost both his legs and a kidney in 2008 during an Israeli air force attack on the refugee camp in Gaza where he lived. 

The outcome of the Israeli army investigations is yet to be made public.

Meanwhile, dozens of Palestinians protested throughout the West Bank on Friday including in the cities of Hebron, Nablus, Ramallah and in Kfar Kadum.

At least four people were wounded in the Gaza Strip on Friday, one of them seriously, in clashes along the border with Israel, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said.

At least 30 Palestinians and two Israeli settlers have been killed since US President Donald Trump's recognition in December of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.