A Palestinian teenager was killed Wednesday after being shot by Israeli security forces in the vicinity of Joseph’s Tomb, located near the West Bank city of Nablus, as part of a visit to the site by a group of Jews, including Israeli parliamentarians.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health has indicated in a brief message on its Facebook account that the deceased is Mahdi Hashah, 15 years old, and detailed that he died from the impact of «shrapnel» that «hit several parts of his body during an operation of the occupation in Nablus».
Security sources quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA said that Hashah is 17 years old and added that he was shot during the operation by Israeli forces, who reportedly accompanied a group of settlers to the area. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah’s armed wing, said he was a member of the group.
For his part, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department, Ahmad Yibril, said that 57 Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation by Israeli forces, while three others were hit by rubber bullets.
According to reports in ‘The Times of Israel’, a group of armed Palestinians opened fire on Israelis who approached Joseph’s Tomb, including several parliamentarians and future parliamentarians.
The Israeli Army has also confirmed that an unmanned drone has crashed in Nablus while escorting the group of Jewish worshippers, before adding that no «sensitive» information has been lost and that there is no risk of intelligence data being extracted from the drone.
Patriarch Joseph’s tomb, located near the Balata refugee camp, is in an area under the control of the Palestinian Authority, which requires settlers to coordinate visits to the tomb with security forces.
The presence of settlers and ultra-Orthodox Jews — who believe that the remains of the Old Testament patriarch lie there — in the area often provokes confrontations with local residents. Palestinians, however, consider the site to be the tomb of a local religious figure.
