There was no immediate further comment from Palestinian officials regarding the deadly incident near Beit Ummar.
RAMALLAH: Israeli forces are holding the bodies of two Palestinian teenagers shot dead near a West Bank settlement, Palestinian authorities said on Monday, while the army says the pair were killed after being thrown Molotov cocktails.
The General Authority for Civil Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, based in Ramallah, confirmed that the bodies were in Israeli custody. The shooting took place north of the city of Hebron.
The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, identified the two victims as Reda Sami Awad, 15, and Arafat Ismail Awad, 19. „Israeli forces are holding the bodies,” Wafa reported.
The Israeli army said soldiers opened fire late Sunday on a group that was burning tires and throwing gasoline canisters toward the settlement. The army said two people were killed and a third person was „neutralized.” The incident occurred during an „anti-terror operation” in the area.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the area, not including East Jerusalem, alongside about three million Palestinians.
The UN recently warned that settler violence against Palestinians has reached record levels, with an average of six attacks per day resulting in injury or property damage.
Violence in the West Bank has escalated since the start of the Gaza War, which was sparked by an unprecedented attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on October 7, 2023.
At least 1,082 Palestinians, including militants and civilians, have been killed by Israeli soldiers or settlers since then, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry data. Official Israeli figures show that at least 46 Israelis, both civilians and soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations during the same period.
