Palestinian killed by Israeli forces in West Bank — Palestinian sources

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories  — A Palestinian teenager died from his wounds hours after being shot by Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian sources said on Saturday.

Mohammad Hamad, 16, was shot and wounded on Friday evening near the town of Silwad, close to Ramallah in the northern West Bank, and died hours later, a Silwad councillor told AFP.

The teenager was near a road leading to the neighbouring settlement of Ofra when he was shot by Israeli soldiers, the councillor said.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said dozens of Palestinians had gathered near Silwad and that "a number of suspects hurled rocks" at passing cars, "endangering civilians".

"Soldiers at the scene operated to stop the suspects in accordance with standard operating procedures, using live fire as a last resort," she told AFP.

A Palestinian was hit, she added, without giving further details.

The death comes amid a spike in Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Nineteen people, mostly Israeli civilians — including 18 inside Israel and a Jewish settler — have been killed in attacks by Palestinians and Arabs Israelis since late March.

Israeli forces have responded with raids inside Israel and in the West Bank in which three Arab Israeli attackers and at least 46 Palestinians have been killed.

Among those killed were suspected militants but also non-combatants, including an Al Jazeera journalist who was covering a raid in Jenin.