West Bank: Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager during house demolition

Israeli forces shot dead a teenager and wounded several other Palestinians in the occupied West Bank overnight Sunday as troops prepared to demolish the home of a man accused of killing an Israeli settler.

The Palestinian health ministry said Mohammad Akram Abu Salah, 17, from the village of al-Yamoun, had succumbed to his injuries after being shot in the the head by Israeli gunfire. 

At least 20 other Palestinians were reported injured, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

A large number of Israeli forces stormed Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin, late on Sunday, closing all entrances and roads leading to the village.

The village is home to Muhammad Jaradat, who has been detained and charged with the killing of Yehuda Dimentman, a 25-year-old religious student who was shot dead during an attack on a car near the illegal outpost of Homesh on 16 December.

Witnesses told Reuters that soldiers and Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire after the troops arrived to carry out the demolition of a floor of the home where Jaradat had lived.

Mahmoud al-Saadi, the director of ambulance services in Jenin, told Wafa that the Israeli forces had prevented ambulances from entering Silat al-Harithiya to treat and transport the injured.

Security sources told the news agency that the Israeli forces, backed by bulldozers, had stormed the village from all sides, while a number of soldiers had climbed the roofs of houses before storming Jaradat's home.

Israel regularly destroys the homes of individuals it says have carried out attacks on Israelis in the occupied territories.

Rights groups have denounced the measure, which often targets homes where other family members also live, as collective punishment.