Israeli Soldiers Shoot Dead Three Palestinians In The West Bank, Including A 14-year-old Teenager

Illustration of Israel's border with Palestine in the West Bank. (Wikimedia Commons/Justin McIntosh)

JAKARTA - Israeli soldiers shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, one teenager and the other a lawyer, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said, as troops carried out more sweeps in the territory, following deadly Arab attacks in Israel.

The Health Ministry said soldiers shot and killed a 14-year-old child near Bethlehem. The Israeli military said he had hurled petrol bombs at the soldiers, who "used live ammunition to stop the immediate threat."

In a separate incident, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli military fire in Nablus, on the main road near Joseph's Tomb, the ministry said, referring to a Jewish temple where Israel carried out repair work on Wednesday after Palestinians vandalized it.

The ministry identified him as Mohammed Assaf, 34, a lawyer who works for the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) department which documents and lobbied, against Israeli settlement activity on land Palestinians seek for a state.

An official from the PLO's anti-settlement unit said Assaf had driven his nephew to a nearby school and had stopped by the roadside to watch what happened when clashes erupted at the tomb.

A military statement on the West Bank operation on Wednesday said an "armed suspect" was shot near Nablus. It is not clear if it refers to Assaf.

Israeli forces have secured the area around the tomb while repair work is underway. The military said hundreds of Palestinians threw stones and petrol bombs at the soldiers, who responded with live fire and acts of dispersal of the riots.

Near Ramallah, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said another Palestinian was killed in clashes that erupted after Israeli forces carried out an arrest raid. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military or police.

Footage shows dozens of Palestinians throwing stones at Israeli armored vehicles and occasional gunshots.

Separately, the Shin Bet domestic security service said three Palestinians planning to carry out attacks on Israelis were arrested in the raid. About 20 people described as terror suspects were detained in Wednesday's operation, according to military and police statements.

The Israeli military has stepped up its attacks on the West Bank, following attacks by two Palestinians from the territory and three members of Israel's Arab minority that have killed 14 people in Israel since late March.

More than 20 Palestinians, the majority of them are gunmen, have been killed by Israeli forces since January.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it held Israel "fully responsible for the repercussions" of the military action. Presidential spokesman Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to intervene.

Israel accuses the Palestinian Authority of not doing enough to control militants and encourage violence against Israelis, by paying alimony to Palestinian families in Israeli prisons, some of them convicted of deadly attacks.

Last year, the bloodshed that coincided with the start of Ramadan, when Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out, turned into an 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.