Israeli forces kill Palestinian teen in Jenin raid

Ramallah, occupied West Bank – Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian teenager during a military raid on the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to officials.

The Palestinian health ministry confirmed to Al Jazeera on Friday that Salah al-Braiki, 19, was shot in the neck and died shortly afterwards at the Jenin public hospital.

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Al-Braiki was pronounced dead at 1:45am (22:45 GMT on Thursday), less than an hour after the Israeli army and special forces raided the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, during which confrontations with unarmed youth and intense armed clashes with Palestinian fighters broke out.

At least three other Palestinians were wounded by Israeli live ammunition, the ministry said.

Israeli forces also arrested Baraa Alawneh, the cousin of 26-year-old fighter Ahmad Alawneh who was killed by the army during a large raid on Jenin on September 28.

Tensions in the occupied West Bank have been boiling up since last year, as Palestinian shootings at Israeli military checkpoints and soldiers, particularly in the northern cities of Jenin and Nablus, increased.

At least three Israeli soldiers have been killed since September 14 – one during a raid on Jenin, and two in separate shootings on military checkpoints last week in Nablus and occupied East Jerusalem.

As part of a military operation it calls “Breaking the Wave”, Israel has intensified raids, arrests and killings in Jenin and Nablus, as Palestinian armed resistance becomes more organised.

According to local media, the Salem checkpoint north of Jenin has been targeted with at least five shootings by Palestinian fighters since the start of October.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Nablus and its villages for more than 10 days, affecting the movement of about 420,000 Palestinians as it searches for suspects of a shooting at a nearby illegal settlement of Shavei Shomron in which one soldier was killed.

Residents, political groups and civil society institutions are demanding the lifting of the siege as it begins to have a serious effect on the economy and life in the area.

According to the health ministry, Israeli forces have killed 175 Palestinians since the start of the year, including 124 people in the West Bank, and 51 in the besieged Gaza Strip. Approximately half of those killed in the West Bank were from Jenin and its villages.

The total death toll also includes 41 children, 17 of whom were killed during Israel’s three-day assault on Gaza in August.

The United Nations has said that 2022 “is the highest year for Palestinian fatalities in the West Bank, compared to the same period in the previous 16 years”.