Description

Photo Credit: Shadi Hatem - Quds Media Network

A man kisses the face of Palestinian boy Orwah Hammad at a hospital morgue in the West Bank city of Ramallah October 24, 2014. Photo by Reuters
______

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager late Friday during clashes in Silwad village near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, medical officials said.

Orwa Abd al-Wahhab Hammad, 14, was shot multiple times with live bullets. He was taken to Palestine Medical Complex where he was pronounced dead.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that soldiers fired at a Palestinian adult who was hurling a Molotov cocktail at forces in the area.

Witnesses said Hammad was hit by an Israeli sniper from close range, insisting the soldier shot to kill.

Orwa was a US national. His uncle was killed during the First Intifada.
___

Palestinian-American teen killed by IDF gunfire during West Bank protest
According to the military, the boy was about to throw a firebomb towards Route 60.

By Gili Cohen , Jack Khoury, The Associated Press and Reuters

A Palestinian-American teenager was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, Friday afternoon, during clashes that erupted in a protest held there weekly.

According to the military, the boy was about to throw a firebomb towards Route 60; an IDF unit positioned nearby opened fire after he had lit the firebomb's fuse, and was preparing to hurl it.

A relative identified the teen as 14-year-old Orwah Hammad and said he was born in New Orleans and came to the West Bank at age six. Hammad's cousin Moath said he was among a group of Palestinians who were throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.

An Israeli army spokesman told Reuters Israeli forces "managed to prevent an attack when they encountered a Palestinian man hurling a molotov cocktail at them on the main road next to Silwad. They opened fire and they confirmed a hit."

The military said it would investigate the shooting, which occurred amid other clashes in Arab areas in and around Jerusalem in which several people were lightly injured.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki called for a "speedy and transparent investigation."

"The United States expresses its deepest condolences to the family of a U.S. citizen minor who was killed by the Israeli Defense Forces during clashes in Silwad on October 24," Psaki said.

She added that U.S. officials would remain "closely engaged with the local authorities, who have the lead on this investigation."

Hammad is the second teen to be killed by army fire in eight days. A 13-year-old was killed last week in a West Bank village.

Another 12 Palestinians were wounded in the clashes on Friday, a hospital official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media.

The Israeli military said soldiers "prevented an attack" by opening fire on a Palestinian who was throwing fire-bombs at traffic on a highway Friday evening.

Tensions have been high since June, when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian militants in the West Bank. Jewish extremists retaliated by kidnapping and killing a Palestinian teenager in east Jerusalem, sparking riots. The kidnappings set off a series of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war.

Earlier this week a Palestinian drove his car into a Jerusalem train station, killing a 3-month-old baby -- who was a U.S. citizen -- and wounding eight other people. Police called Wednesday's crash a terror attack.

The car's driver, identified as Abdel Rahman al-Shaludi, was a Palestinian from east Jerusalem who had served time in prison for militant activities. He was shot by police as he tried to run away and later died from his wounds.

The last few months have also seen clashes at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli police, adding to the tensions.

__

By ISABEL KERSHNER for the New York Times

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops on Friday shot and killed a Palestinian teenager who also held American citizenship. The Israeli military said its forces opened fire as the teenager threw a firebomb onto a main road in the West Bank that is often used by Israeli settlers, an account that could not be verified.

Dr. Sameer Saliba, of the Palestinian Medical Complex in Ramallah, said that Orwa Abdel Wahab Hammad, 14, from Silwad, a village northeast of Ramallah, was brought to the hospital about 6 p.m. with a bullet wound to the head, and that he was dead on arrival. Other Palestinian reports put his age at 15 or 17.

Local residents said that Palestinians throwing stones clashed with Israeli soldiers in the village after Friday Prayer, but that Orwa was apparently killed hours later.

The State Department called for a speedy and transparent investigation of the killing. “We continue to urge all parties to help restore calm and avoid escalating tensions in the wake of the tragic recent incidents in Jerusalem and the West Bank,” Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement.

It was the second fatal shooting of a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank in eight days. Soldiers shot Bahaa Sameer Mousa Bader, 13, in the chest during a confrontation on Oct. 16 near Israel’s separation barrier in Beit Liqya, another village near Ramallah.

On Wednesday a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem plowed his car into an Israeli light rail station in the city, killing a 3-month-old girl, Chaya Zissel Braun, who also held American citizenship. The Israeli authorities treated it as a terrorist attack, and a police officer shot and killed the driver as he tried to flee, the police said. Relatives of the driver said they believed he had simply lost control of the car.

Al-Haq, a Palestinian human rights organization, said it had documented the killing of 34 Palestinians in the West Bank or East Jerusalem by Israeli forces or settlers since mid-June, six of them minors. Palestinian and Israeli critics have expressed skepticism about internal army investigations, saying they rarely yield results.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel this week accused President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority of inciting violence against Israelis after Mr. Abbas called for Palestinians to defend their holy sites in Jerusalem “by all means.” Saeb Erekat, an Abbas aide, called the accusation “unfounded and inflammatory,” saying that “the Israeli occupation of Palestine remains the main source of violence and instability in the region.”