JERUSALEM (AP) – Health authorities said a 16-year-old Palestinian died early yesterday after being wounded during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, the latest in a wave of violence that has persisted for months.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said Ghaith Yamin was wounded by a gunshot to the head and died at a hospital. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the clashes erupted when worshippers, escorted by the military, arrived at a shrine on the outskirts of Nablus city to pray.
At least 15 Palestinians were wounded by live fire, according to Wafa, during the clashes near Joseph’s Tomb, a frequent flashpoint site.
Next week, Israeli ultranationalists are planning to march through the thoroughfare of the Old City.
The march is meant to celebrate Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel subsequently annexed the area in a step that is not internationally recognised.
The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Also inflaming tensions is the death of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh during a firefight in Jenin.
A reconstruction by the Associated Press lends support to assertions from both Palestinian authorities and Abu Akleh’s colleagues that the bullet that cut her down came from an Israeli gun.
Any conclusive answer is unlikely due to the distrust between the two sides, each of which is in possession of crucial evidence.
