Palestinian killed as Israel steps up assault on West Bank

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank as thousands of Palestinians also gathered along the border with Israel in the Gaza Strip for Friday protests.

Protesters demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. (December 14, 2018)
AFP

Protesters demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel. (December 14, 2018)

Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager on Friday as they stepped up their assault in the occupied West Bank, the health ministry said.

The 17-year-old killed was named by the ministry as Mahmoud Nakhla, who authorities said died after being shot in the stomach by Israeli fire near the Jalazone refugee camp in the central West Bank.

The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the death, which came as soldiers clashed with stone-throwing protesters in multiple locations.

A Hamas official said some 100 members of the group, including lawmakers and other senior figures, were arrested this week, including 70 arrested overnight and throughout the day on Friday.

The raids were conducted as part of a manhunt for a Palestinian who seriously wounded a soldier after hitting him with a rock in the head inside Beit El settlement as well as for a gunman who on Thursday carried out a drive-by shooting attack and killed two Israeli soldiers outside a nearby settlement and sped away, according to Palestine's Wafa news agency

Journalist Hind Khoudary has more from Gaza.

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Gazans converge on Israel buffer zone 

At least 75 people were injured as Palestinians gathered on Friday in the east of Gaza near the Israeli border for a weekly protest against the occupation. 

This is the 38th week of Friday protests, which Palestinians are calling "the Resistance is a Legitimate Right."

In a statement, Gaza’s National Authority for Breaking the Siege urged Gazans to take part in today’s demonstration, which coincided with the 31st anniversary of the establishment of resistance movement Hamas.

More than two hundred Palestinians have lost their lives and thousands have been injured since the Great March of Return started earlier this year. 

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