Hawzah News agency (Occupied Territories of Palestine) - A 16-year-old Palestinian detainee has had to undergo a below-the-knee amputation, due to a severe injuries he sustained after an Israeli jeep hit him at an Israeli military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Jenin last week, according to Palestinian prisoners’ rights group Addameer.
Addameer wrote in a statement on Tuesday that an attorney representing Sharif Khanfar said the teen was with three of his friends riding a Vespa motorcycle when they were apprehended by Israeli forces for allegedly planning a vehicular attack on Jan. 3, and were injured after an Israeli jeep hit them.
The statement contradicted reports from Israeli police at the time of the incident, which did not mention an Israeli vehicle being involved.
The accident occurred at a so-called "flying checkpoint" -- a non-temporary Israeli military checkpoint -- that had been set up between the city of Jenin and the al-Jalama checkpoint.
A second Palestinian was severely injured in the incident, and a third was lightly injured. Two Israeli soldiers were lightly injured under unclear circumstance.
An Israeli police spokesperson could not immediately be reached on Wednesday to confirm whether or not the teen was in fact being detained.
According to Addameer, Khanfar was being detained by Israeli authorities in the hospital, which is located in the city of Afula, north of the border with the occupied West Bank.
Addameer’s statement said Khanfar and his family members were "shocked" by the incident that resulted in the loss of a leg, and denied that he and his friends had intended to carry out an attack.
Since a wave of unrest began in October 2015-- largely marked by small-scale attacks by Palestinians targeting uniformed Israeli soldiers and police with knives or similar weapons -- a number of deliberate car ramming attacks have occurred.
However, Israeli authorities' version of events have been challenged in a number of incidents, with officials in some cases later admitting so-called "terror attacks" were actually traffic accidents.
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