Palestinian teenager shot dead in West Bank after alleged attack
A Palestinian teenager has been shot dead by Israeli forces after what they claimed was an attempted car ramming at a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
Israel's defence ministry said an injured Israeli guard was being treated at Sheba Medical Centre, in Tel Aviv, and was expected to survive.
There was no immediate Palestinian comment on the incident, which occurred at a roadblock between Israel and the central West Bank, near the city of Tulkarm.
The alleged ramming attack happened at the Jabra military checkpoint, also known as Al Teen Crossing, which sits close to The Green Line, the boundary separating the West Bank from Israel.
The alleged Palestinian attacker was 16 years old, the defence ministry said.
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Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the teenager, named as Mohammed Nidal Younis, was from Nablus city and succumbed to his wounds in hospital.
Wafa said that Israeli forces had broken into and searched Younis's family home in the northern mountain of Nablus following the attack.
Israel's Defence Minister Benny Gantz said on Monday that he has ordered the armed forces to increase the level of alert at the military crossings in the occupied West Bank.
"Of course the incident will be investigated in-depth," Gantz tweeted, "and following the recent events, I have decided on raising the alertness and preparedness on all crossings."
Violence has simmered in the West Bank, part of territory Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and that Palestinians seek for a future state, since US-sponsored peace talks broke down in 2014.
The incident comes two days after Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian in occupied east Jerusalem on Saturday after he stabbed an Israeli civilian and tried to attack police, Israeli police and Palestinian medics said.
Israeli authorities claimed that Abu Salameh stabbed a 20-year-old Israeli man, who was left in "moderate to severe condition", and then attempted to attack a police officer.
In the wake of the killing, security forces closed off the entrances to the Old City, while conflict briefly erupted between Palestinians and Israeli police at the scene.
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