Israeli soldiers shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy on Saturday during confrontations with protesters in a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Jenin, medics said.
An Israeli military source said the soldiers had responded after coming under fire, but Palestinians said the protesters were only throwing stones.
The violence erupted amid fears of a power vacuum in the Palestinian territories with ailing Palestinian President Yasser Arafat absent for the first time in a decade, after being flown to Paris on Friday for medical treatment.
The military source said soldiers had opened fire during protests by hundreds of Palestinians against a raid in the northern West Bank camp, but could not confirm whether anyone was shot.