A 14-year-old Palestinian minor was killed this morning by shots from the Israeli army during a military raid in the West Bank town of Qalquilia, official Palestinian sources reported.

The deceased young man was identified by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) as Fares Abu Samra.

According to a ministry spokesman, the young man was taken in critical condition to a city hospital after being shot in the head and died shortly after.

The official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that the incident took place as part of an Israeli military raid on the town, which led to clashes with local youths during which soldiers opened fire.

The PNA Foreign Ministry described the event as “a crime against humanity” and as “an expression of the level of moral decline in the Israeli Army.”. In addition, he denounced that “the lack of international protection for the Palestinian people encourages the (Israeli) occupation to continue committing crimes.”

The death this morning of Abu Samra adds to the death yesterday of a 23-year-old Palestinian, also during clashes triggered by an Israeli military raid in the occupied West Bank.

On Tuesday, another three Palestinians were killed by army fire after opening fire on a group of soldiers operating in the city of Nablus, a stronghold of Palestinian militias in the northern West Bank.

The occupied West Bank is experiencing its biggest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-2005) and in 2023 168 Palestinians have already died in the framework of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, most of them militants in armed clashes with Israeli troops and attackers, but also civilians, including 29 minors.

In parallel, the area has seen the proliferation of new Palestinian armed groups and an increase in attacks that have left 27 dead on the Israeli side, most of them settlers, five of them minors, and 3 uniformed men.