An American-Palestinian boy has been shot dead during clashes between Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing protesters in the occupied West Bank, medics and residents said.
Orwah Hammad, 14, was shot in the head on Friday in the village of Silwad, north of the Palestinian seat of government in Ramallah.
According to Aljazeera, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called for a “speedy and transparent investigation,” adding: “The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a US citizen minor who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces during clashes in Silwad on October 24.”
The Israeli military said it would investigate the shooting.
Hammad was the second teen to be killed by army fire in eight days. A 13-year-old was killed last week in a West Bank village.
According to RushHourDaily, an Israeli army spokesman told the RushHourDaily news agency that Israeli forces had prevented an attack: “They encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail… They opened fire and they confirmed a hit.”
Tensions have been high since June, when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Jewish extremists retaliated by kidnapping and killing a Palestinian teenager in east Jerusalem, sparking riots. The kidnappings set off a series of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war.
Earlier this week a Palestinian drove his car into a Jerusalem train station, killing a 3-month-old baby — who was a U.S. citizen — and wounding eight other people. Police called Wednesday’s crash a terror attack.
The car’s driver, identified as Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, was a Palestinian from east Jerusalem who had served time in prison for militant activities. He was shot by police as he tried to run and later died from his wounds.
In the last few months, there have been clashes at Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli police, adding to the tensions. – Harretz
Photo Via RushHourDaily/ RAMALLAH West Bank.
