Israeli Forces Kill 4 Palestinians In West Bank: Ministry

Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians, two of them teenagers, in the north of the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Sixteen-year-old Omar Abu Bakr was killed by "a bullet to the chest fired by soldiers from the occupation (Israel) in Yabad", the health ministry said in a statement.

Abdul Nasser Mustafa Riyahi, 24, succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the Balata refugee camp near Nablus, according to the ministry.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Israeli forces had burst into the camp in the morning and surrounded a house.

"Confrontations broke out during which the soldiers opened live fire at the Palestinians injuring four. One of them later died of his wounds," it said.

Earlier, the health ministry said Israeli troops had killed two Palestinians elsewhere in the West Bank's north.

It said Abdul Rahman Imad Khaled Bani Odeh, 16, and Moath Ibrahim Zahran, 23, were killed by Israeli fire in the village of Tamun and the nearby Al-Fara refugee camp.

An AFP correspondent in Tamun saw Israeli soldiers enter the village to make arrests and witnessed clashes breaking out with residents.

Further south, in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, three Palestinians "were wounded by the bullets of the occupation (Israel), one of them seriously", the ministry said in a separate statement.

The Israeli army did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Violence in the West Bank has flared since the outbreak of the war between Israel and Palestinian operative group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Authority says Israeli fire and settler attacks in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since 1967, have killed more than 250 Palestinians during the current conflict.

Hamas gunmen from Gaza launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 240 hostages, Israeli officials say.

In response, Israel has carried out air strikes and a ground offensive in Gaza that have killed more than 16,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run government there.

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