Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian teenagers near Ramallah in the West Bank on Wednesday after protests against Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.
The teenagers' deaths brought the toll of Palestinians killed in the West Bank to at least 64 since Israel began carrying it outs fiercest bombardment ever on October 7, in a sharp uptick in fatal clashes with the army and settlers.
The victims were identified as 15-year-old Mohammad Khalil and 17-year-old Qais Tayyem Shalash, according to a statement from the Palestinian Authority's health ministry. The two young Palestinian boys were shot at the entrance of Shuqba village, west of Ramallah.
Residents told Reuters the two boys were trying to light tyres in protest against Israel when they were shot.
Palestinian sources have said that 700 Palestinians have also been arrested by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the outbreak of the devastating war.
Israeli forces have also killed at least 269 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank so far this year, amid intensified military raids and settler violence under Benjamin Netanyahu's extreme far-right government.
Israel airstrikes in Gaza have killed at least 3,478 Palestinians as of Wednesday, injuring 13,000 people. Tel Aviv is preparing a ground assault in the Gaza Strip while imposing an evacuation order on northern Gaza's 1 million residents.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has inflamed tensions in the West Bank, the other Palestinian territory under illegal Israeli occupation. Earlier, hundreds of Palestinians marched in West Bank cities, a day after a deadly hospital explosion in Gaza, killing 471 people, which has been blamed on Israel.
(Reuters and °®Âþµº Staff)