Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager in West Bank clashes

Mohammed Abu Salah killed during operation to destroy home of shooting suspect

Palestinians carry the body of Mohammed Abu Salah, 17, who was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. AFP

Israeli forces have shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank during what Israel described as an operation to demolish the home of a “terrorist” suspected of a recent attack.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Mohammed Abu Salah, 17, was killed during clashes in the village of Silat Al Harithiya near the town of Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday night.

Israel's army said in a statement on Monday that its troops along with border police had entered the village “to demolish the floor of the residence in which the terrorist Muhammad Jaradat resided".

It said he was among a group who had carried out the recent fatal shooting of a Jewish settler in the West Bank.

The army said “violent riots” broke out before the planned demolition, “with the participation of hundreds of Palestinians”, some of whom hurled explosives at Israeli troops.

“The troops identified a number of armed rioters, and fired towards them in order to neutralise the threat,” it said.

Israel regularly destroys the homes of people it says have carried out attacks on Israelis, in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The practice has been condemned by critics as a form of collective punishment. Israel insists it deters attacks.

The army said the man whose home they destroyed was responsible for the death of Yehuda Dimentman, 25, a student shot dead in the West Bank in December.

Palestinians demonstrate near Israeli settlements - in pictures

A married father, Dimentman was studying at a religious school in the Homesh settlement in the West Bank when he was killed in a shooting that wounded several others.

Israel arrested several people over the shooting days after it occurred.

About 475,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, alongside more than 2.9 million Palestinians, in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.

Homesh is among the settlements that Israel considers to be unauthorised.

It had been evacuated by Israeli forces in 2005 but settlers have nevertheless continued to operate there, fuelling tensions with Palestinians.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israel War.