Israeli forces shot dead Palestinian teen in West Bank

The Palestinian Authority’s health ministry identified the victim as 16-year-old Ghaith Yamin, the Associated Press reported.

According to the ministry, the victim died at a hospital in early Wednesday from a gunshot wound to his head. The teenager was afflicted with the injury during clashes with Israeli forces.

The clashes erupted as the forces were escorting illegal Israeli settlers during a visit to a shrine in the area, the official Palestinian Wafa news agency said.

At least 15 Palestinians were wounded by live fire during the clashes, the agency added, identifying the site of the clashes as the periphery of “Joseph’s Tomb.”

Some Israelis believe the site to be the burial place of Prophet Joseph, while Palestinians say it is the tomb of a Sheikh.

The clashes came at a time of heightened tensions between the two sides spurred by the Israeli regime’s recent assassination of well-known Palestinian journalist Shereen Abu Akleh.

The veteran Al Jazeera journalist was shot in the head on May 11, when she was reporting on an Israeli raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.

The Israeli regime has, however, refused to assume responsibility for the murder.

Most recently, reports said Manu Pineda, an official with the European Union’s Parliament, who had been supposed to travel to the occupied territories, to examine the situation on the ground following the murder, had been denied entry by the occupying regime.