Israeli forces kill two Palestinians near settlement in Nablus

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian teenagers on Tuesday in the village of Deir Hattab, near the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the two Palestinians killed had lived in the nearby Balata refugee camp in Nablus. 

A senior Palestinian official told AFP that he had been informed of the death of the two Palestinians, who were not immediately identified.

The Israeli army said in a statement that four Palestinians had opened fire on the Elon Moreh settlement from a vehicle before being shot by soldiers, adding that three weapons were found at the scene.

The army said it's holding the bodies of the two Palestinians killed, while the two others escaped.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said it had evacuated one of the wounded Palestinians, who was shot in the shoulder, to a hospital in Nablus.

Israeli forces have killed at least 96 people, including 16 children, since the start of January, at a rate of nearly one fatality a day, in what the Palestinian health ministry has described as the deadliest start to a year since 2000. 

On Monday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Israeli troops killed a 15-year-old Palestinian boy in the occupied West Bank city of Jericho. 

Mohamed Faiz Balhan, 15, was shot dead just after 9 am local time when Israeli forces raided the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp near the city to make arrests.