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Israeli military officer kills Palestinian stone-throwing youth in West Bank

Xinhua, July 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

A senior Israeli commander shot and killed Friday a 17-year-old Palestinian who was hurling stones near a chokepoint in the West Bank village of al-Ram, Israeli officials said.

A military spokesperson said the youth was among a group of Palestinians who were throwing rocks at a military jeep carrying Brigade Commander, Israel Shomer, toward an army post in the West Bank, north of Jerusalem.

The spokesperson said the soldiers "felt in mortal danger" and that warning shots were fired in the air before the troops shot at the stone-throwers, seriously wounding one of them.

The casualty, Muhammad Kasbah from the village of al-Ram, later succumbed to his wounds at a hospital in Ramallah.

However, Palestinian medical sources told Israel's Yent news that Kasbah was shot as he was trying to climb the separation wall to enter Jerusalem on his way to the Ramadan's Friday's prayers.

He was wounded by two bullets and fell from a high altitude, according to Ynet.

Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported that two of Kasbah's brothers were killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers in the Qalandiya refugee camp in March 2002.

In the wake of the incident, Israeli police announced raised alert level and deployed extra forces in the Jerusalem area. The Israeli military closed multiple roads in East Jerusalem as a large crowed was expected at the al Aqsa mosque to mark the third Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.

On Thursday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in East Jerusalem to commemorate the first anniversary of the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, who was burned to death by young Jewish extremists last year before the Gaza war last summer.

Violent incidents between Israelis and Palestinians have been on the rise since the U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed last April.

There have been dozens of militant attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, mainly in Jerusalem, claiming Israeli victims, along Palestinian casualties from the frequent clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli security forces. Enditem