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by IMEMC & Agencies

The army claims he “attempted to stab a settler"; Israeli soldiers shot and killed, on Tuesday morning, a Palestinian teen, sixteen years of age, near the Gush Etzion settlement block, built on Palestinian lands, south of Bethlehem.

Palestinian medical sources said the slain teen has been identified as Ma’moun Raed al-Khatib, 16 years of age, from Doha city, in the Bethlehem district.

According to the Israeli army, al-Khatib “approached a settler with the intention to stab him,” before a soldier shot and injured him.

The slain Palestinian was left bleeding on the ground, and died of his wounds.

Israeli sources said the army also accidentally shot and injured one settler in his arm, suffering a mild wound, and that no Israelis were hurt in the reported "stabbing attack."

Al-Khatib's death brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, since October 1 to 107, including children and women, among them a mother and her baby who were killed after the army bombarded their home in Gaza.

In related news, an Israeli man claimed that “a Palestinian attacked him with a sharp object in Jerusalem,” causing a mild injury.

The police said it is investigating the incident, and that initial findings indicate the attack was criminally motivated.

In addition, the soldiers have kidnapped a young woman near the southern entrance of al-Khader town, south of Bethlehem, and took her to an unknown destination.