News - Middle East: Israeli forces have shot and killed a Palestinian teenager in the southern part of the West Bank during a raid following a car-ramming operation against the regime's soldiers.

The Israeli military said in a statement that troops found and killed a Palestinian in the city of al-Khalil on Tuesday morning, who had lightly injured a soldier in the attack overnight.

In the purported attack, the military said that the assailant accelerated his vehicle into troops stationed at the Yehuda Junction, near the West Bank city of al-Khalil, injuring one servicewoman, who was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Other soldiers at the junction opened fire on the car as it fled, hitting it, the army added.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing the Ministry of Health, identified the victim as 17-year-old Muhannad Tariq Muhammad al-Zughair, saying Israeli gunfire struck him near the Abu Dajjan area in the southern sector of al-Khalil.

Local sources said troops killed Zughair inside a car in a field. His body was reportedly taken by Israeli forces, as is usual in such cases.

Palestinian media outlets reported that during the pursuit, Israeli troops blocked the entrances to al-Khalil with metal gates, and searched several homes belonging to Zughair’s family in the city.

Palestinians in the West Bank have been subjected to escalating Israeli military actions and settler violence, amid the genocidal war in Gaza that has killed more than 70,000 people in the coastal territory since October 2023.

Rights organizations have been cautioning for months that Palestinians in the West Bank are at increasing risk of ethnic cleansing due to the ongoing violence.

In July 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared Israel’s extended occupation of historic Palestine to be unlawful and urged the removal of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East al-Quds.

While the court’s advisory opinion is not legally binding, it holds considerable political significance as it marks the first occasion the ICJ has addressed the legality of the 57-year-long occupation.

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