An <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/2022/07/12/european-countries-reject-israels-claims-against-palestinian-ngos/" target="_blank">Israeli</a> soldier shot dead a Palestinian boy, 16, near a road leading to a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Palestinian officials said. The Israeli military said troops had opened fire to protect motorists from rioters. Witnesses said the incident, east of the hub city of Ramallah, had also involved face-offs in fields between settlers and Palestinians. They said that at least one of the settlers was armed and that the opposing groups had thrown rocks at each other. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned the teenager's killing as “an execution”. A second Palestinian was shot and wounded in the incident, health officials and witnesses said. The Israeli army said troops fired to disperse hundreds of Palestinians who had burnt tyres and hurled stones at a road leading to Kochav HaShachar settlement. “We are aware of reports of a Palestinian that was killed,” the Israeli military said. Israel's Channel 14 TV station said a settler was also injured and his dog killed. But the army said it knew of no such incident during the confrontations outside Kochav HaShachar and that the report appeared to be referring to an incident elsewhere. Most countries regard the settlements as illegal. They stand on land captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, where Palestinians want to build a future state.
