Two Palestinian teens were killed Thursday by Israeli forces using live ammunition amid ongoing clashes in the West Bank and Gaza over the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the undivided Israeli capital.
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Omar Kino Qadous, 16, was shot and critically injured by Israeli soldiers in the village of Iraq Burin, south of Nablus, earlier Thursday before succumbing to his wounds in hospital, Palestinian state news agency Wafa reported according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near the village reportedly opened fire without apparent reason at a few young men who were standing by, Ghassan Daghlas who monitors settlements activities in the northern West Bank told Wafa, adding that Qadous was among those hit by the live ammunition.
Meanwhile in a Gaza refugee camp 16-year-old Ameer Abu Musaed was shot and killed by Israeli soldiers Thursday evening after he was hit with a bullet in his chest, according to medics at the Palestinian blockaded strip.
Three others were wounded in the clashes with the Israeli forces in the camp at the Gaza-Israel border, with at least one of them being in a critical condition, the medics told Wafa.
The news comes few days after Israeli occupation forces imposed strict measures in the Palestinian West Bank following the killing of an Israeli settler rabbi in a drive-by shooting near the illegal Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad where he lived.
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Main roads have been closed, villages sealed off, and already-exhausting inspections of Palestinians increased.
A total of 17 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last month, sparking widespread protests across the West Bank, gaza, and East jerusalem.
Trump’s controversial declaration has been condemned by most world leaders and the U.N. General Assembly has passed a resolution calling on the U.S. to withdraw the recognition.
Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, among whose shrines is Islam's third-holiest mosque, Al-Aqsa, as the capital of a state they seek in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.