Israeli forces opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators. 18 others were wounded by rubber-coated metal rounds. In contrast, Hamayel was killed onsite by a live bullet to the head and died in the hospital shortly after. Sit-ins on the hilltop have been staged since February 28 to deter Israelis from forming an illegal outpost. Under international law, these settlements and outputs are illegal.
"Locals in the area say Jabal al-Armeh [al-Armeh mountain] is a very high area … one of the highest in the Nablus area, and settlers have been eyeing this location for years, since the 1980s," Aljazeera’s Nida Ibrahim reporting out of the West Bank city of Ramallah stated, "There have been confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli settlers there. Usually, settlers like to settle on high areas … on hilltops … this is a way for them to keep an upper hand if anything happens, including demonstrations.”
The Israeli military said that it was responding to a “violent riot” of an estimated 500 Palestinians. An army statement went on to report, “we are aware of a report regarding a killed Palestinian and several injured. The incident will be reviewed.”
According to Palestinians, settlers have become bolder following U.S President Trump’s Middle East Plan and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s pronouncement pledging to build 3,500 new illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.
To read more, visit:
https://www.voanews.com/middle-east/palestinians-15-year-old-killed-clash-israeli-army
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=gJXUJCa115378160931agJXUJC
Author: Rachel Warner; Editor: Teagen Foti