Israeli forces martyr Palestinian teenage boy during raid in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have killed a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager during a military raid on a refugee camp in the occupied eastern West Bank city of Ariha, as Israeli settlers have stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied Old City of al-Quds in yet another provocative move against Palestinian worshipers.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that confrontations broke out soon after Israeli forces raided the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp on Monday morning, with dozens of armored vehicles and special forces, to arrest activists.

The report added that Israeli troops fired shots indiscriminately at local residents, hitting one in the head, chest and stomach. He later succumbed to his serious gunshot wounds. Two other Palestinians were struck in the lower parts of the body.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health later identified the victim as 15-year-old Mohammad Fayez Balhan.

Local sources said Israeli soldiers had surrounded the camp from all sides before entering it to detain activists.    

Meanwhile, more than a 1,500 Israeli settlers broke into the courtyard of the al-Aqsa Mosque through the Moroccan Gate, also known as the Mughrabi Gate, and toured it under the protection of the regime’s forces.

Israeli settlers also provocatively performed rituals in the sacred site.

Media reports said the occupation forces had earlier stormed the mosque, and removed the Palestinian worshipers from the holy site to pave the way for the settlers’ incursions.

Hardline Israeli officials and settlers regularly storm the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the occupied city, a provocative move that infuriates Palestinians. Such mass settler break-ins almost always take place at the behest of Tel Aviv-backed temple groups and under the auspices of the Israeli police in al-Quds.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque.

The Jewish visitation of al-Aqsa is permitted, but as part of a decades-old agreement between Jordan – the custodian of Islamic and Christian sites in al-Quds – and Israel in the wake of Israel’s occupation of East al-Quds in 1967, non-Muslim worship at the compound is prohibited.

ME