Israel and Palestine divisions intensify as six dead in six days on West Bank

It has been another violent week in the West Bank.

Six dead, in six days – three Palestinians and three Israelis.

On Thursday night, a 17-year-old boy, Mohammed Saleem, was shot and killed during clashes with Israeli forces.

His funeral was held today in his hometown of Azzun in the West Bank.

Azzun is in the north-west of the West Bank, only a few miles from the checkpoint into Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinians were at the cemetery for the burial, some waving yellow Fatah flags, others armed and masked.

“He was good in school and good with his family, and all the town loved Mohammed and respected him,” a friend of his told Sky News.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) say that Mohammed Saleem was part of a group that first attacked Israeli cars on a nearby road, and then threw Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers.

The doctor who treated him and tried to save him told us the teenager was shot in the back.

“There was a bullet direct to his heart from the back and he was already dead. Witnesses say he was kept by the IDF,” said Dr Mustafa Saleem.

“He arrived dead. CPR didn’t work.”

There has always been divisions and anger on both sides, but it is growing deeper.

Some 64 Palestinians have been killed in The West Bank and East Jerusalem this year alone – with 13 of them children.

Twelve Israelis have lost their lives in terror attacks in 2023.

Read more:
Eyewitness: Residents reflect on night of violence which rocked Palestinian town Huwara
American-Israeli citizen identified as West Bank shooting victim
Boy, six, among two dead after car driven into crowd at Jerusalem bus stop

The Israeli military has defended its actions and says that many of the dead were militants who were planning terror attacks against Israel.

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The UN has criticised the killing of children.

The has been growing international pressure for calm, but so far, it hasn’t worked.