A Palestinian teenage boy has been killed and three others have been critically injured after Israeli military forces opened fire on a passenger car in the central part of West Bank amid ongoing tensions between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian protesters in the occupied territories.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement that the shooting happened on Thursday evening near the Jelazun Palestinian refugee camp, located seven kilometers north of Ramallah.
Ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society later transferred the quartet to Ramallah Government Hospital, where one succumbed to his gunshot wounds.
The Palestinian ministry identified the slain Palestinian as 17-year-old Muhammad Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Hattab, saying he had been shot in the chest and shoulder.
The three injured Palestinians were named as 18-year-old Jassem Muhammad Nakhla, who was shot in the head and foot, 18-year-old Muhammad al-Hattab, who was shot in the abdomen, and 18-year-old Muhammad Musa Nakhla, who was shot in the foot and shoulder. They are in a critical condition in hospital.
The Israeli military later alleged in a statement that the teenagers had been throwing petrol bombs at a nearby settlement.
The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed tensions ever since Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.
Nearly 290 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October that year.