Hawzah News Agency – Israeli troops have shot and killed three Palestinians, including a teenage boy and a lawyer, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Israeli troops continued a days-long military operation in the occupied West Bank following a spate of deadly attacks.
The three killings on Wednesday, all in separate incidents, were the latest in a wave of Israel-Palestine violence that has erupted as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan.
Palestinian officials said one of the two, lawyer Mohammed Assaf, 34, just happened to inadvertently drive into a battle zone in the northern West Bank town of Beita.
Israeli military statement on occupied West Bank operations said an "armed suspect" was hit near Nablus. It was unclear whether it was referring to Assaf.
The other was a 14-year-old, killed by Israeli army fire in Husan, a village near Bethlehem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The teen's death is likely to draw international criticism of Israeli military tactics. Earlier this week, the fatal shooting of an unarmed Palestinian woman, a widowed mother of six, drew accusations from European officials that the military was using excessive force.
Dozens dead in recent weeks
Israeli forces detained close to 20 people in and around Nablus and other towns in Wednesday's operations, the military and police said.
Palestinian health officials said seven people were wounded with live bullets in the Nablus clashes, and that two of them were in critical condition.
The Israeli military stepped up its raids in the occupied West Bank following attacks by two Palestinians from the territory and three members of Israel's Arab minority which have killed 14 people in Israel since late March.
More than 20 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops since January.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday it held Israel "fully responsible for the repercussions" of the military's actions and a spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas appealed for the international community to intervene.
Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of not doing enough to rein in resistance fighters.
On Wednesday, Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said the Arab state strongly condemned Israel's West Bank operations and what he called excessive force against Palestinians. Hafez urged in a statement for "containing such growing and accelerating developments," which could lead to further escalation and mutual violence.
Israeli-Palestinian violence last May spiralled into an 11-day war between besieged Gaza and Israel.