A Palestinian teenager was shot dead on Tuesday during clashes with Israeli forces at a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. "Mohammed Abu Hashash, 17, died after he was shot in the chest during clashes with (Israeli forces) in the Fawwar camp," a statement from the Palestinian health ministry said.
At least 25 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes, Red Crescent medics said earlier. The violence erupted when a large convoy of Israeli military vehicles entered the camp, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, witnesses said. The Israeli military did not confirm or deny casualties during the operation, which a spokeswoman said aimed to "uncover weaponry" in the camp.
The army closed off the Fawwar camp for 26 days last month after a gunman fired on an Israeli car on a nearby road, causing a crash that killed the driver. A wave of violence since October has killed 220 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese, according to an AFP tally. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.
Some 10,000 people live in the Fawwar camp, established by the United Nations in 1949 a year after the creation of the state of Israel and the flight or expulsion of nearly 800,000 Palestinians. Like all refugee camps in the occupied territories, it is now a separate town with proper buildings and public services provided by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Fawwar is near the Jewish settlement of Beit Hagai and a military base, and the Israeli military has built a watchtower at the camp's entrance.
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