A Palestinian teenager shot by settlers near the southern West Bank town of Hebron died of his wounds overnight, Palestinian police said yesterday.
Yusef Ikhlil, 17, was shot in the head on Friday and taken in critical condition to Hebron’s al-Ahly hospital, where he was placed on life support. He died at around midnight, police said.
A relative, 19-year-old Murad Ikhlil, was wounded in the arm in the same confrontation with settlers who entered their village, Beit Umar, north of Hebron.
Settler sources said that Palestinians began throwing stones at the settlers and also shot at them, prompting the Israelis to return fire, wounding the two Palestinians.
Police could not confirm their account.
Friday’s violence came a day after settlers shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the northern West Bank town of Nablus.
The Israeli military on Friday condemned both events and said settler suspects had been detained for questioning.
“So far, a number of Israeli settlers were arrested in suspicion of involvement in the recent events,” it said, and warned both sides to keep the peace. “Action will be taken against all forms of violence on either side.”
On Thursday, 18-year-old Uday Maher Qadous, from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin southwest of Nablus, was shot dead by a settler.
His cousin, who was with him at the time, said a group of four settlers on a nearby hilltop opened fire on them, hitting Qadous in the chest.
Israeli police said they were investigating the incident and that Qadous was shot after Palestinians began throwing stones at nearby settlers.
About 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank in heavily guarded settlements scattered among a Palestinian population of about 2.5 million. The Palestinians and the international community deem the settlements to be a violation of international law.
Israeli and international human rights groups have called on the Israeli government to do more to protect Palestinian residents from harassment by settlers, many of whom carry weapons.
In other news, thousands of Hamas supporters on Friday protested in different locations across the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip against Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his government in the West Bank, the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
The protests were sparked by documents from a decade of Middle East peace talks, leaked this week by the Arabic TV station al-Jazeera.
The station alleged the documents show that Abbas was ready to make far-reaching concessions to Israel, including on the fate of several million Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
While Palestinian negotiators told their Israeli counterparts that refugees must be able to choose if they want to return to what is now Israel, Abbas acknowledged in a meeting with Palestinian officials that it would be “illogical” to expect 5 million or even 1 million to exercise the “right of return.”
Hamas rejects compromise with Israel, and the leaks have deepened the enmity between the two rival Palestinian factions.
The Hamas protesters called Abbas a “traitor,” held posters with his face crossed out and burned him in effigy.
In the West Bank city of Ramallah, seat of the Palestinian Authority, several hundred people rallied in support of Abbas.
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