Israeli fire kills Palestinian teen

The Israeli army claims the Palestinian boys were hurt by riot-control weapons rather than live fire [AFP] Israeli forces have killed a Palestinian teenager during violent clashes in the occupied West Bank, medics have said. Muhammad Qadus had been taking part in a demonstration on Saturday, in which stones were thrown at Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinian hospital officials said the 16-year-old was struck in the heart by a bullet fired by Israeli forces. Qadus was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital. Medical sources said that the Red Crescent ambulance sent to collect him was delayed by Israeli forces. Live ammunition? The Israeli military said the soldiers did not fire live ammunition, but used riot control weapons such as teargas and rubber-coated bullets to disperse the Palestinians who were approaching a nearby Jewish settlement. However, sources have told Al Jazeera that Qadus was shot and killed by two live bullets to his chest. The clashes also seriously injured another 16-year-old Palestinian boy, identified as Useid Abed an-Nasser Qadus, the cousin of the dead boy. Medical sources said was shot in the head and was transferred to a hospital for emergency surgery. An Israeli military spokesman insisted that both injured Palestinians were hurt by riot-control weapons rather than live fire. The spokesman said the incident came amid "a violent and illegal riot" near Iraq Burin, during which dozens of rock-hurling Palestinians approached Bracha, a nearby settlement. One "rock-hurler" was arrested, he added. Clashes take place in the village on a nearly weekly basis over a water well that Palestinians claim Jewish settlers are trying to seize for their own use. The fatality was the first during a string of clashesthat erupted this week following of Israel's consecration of an ancient synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem and would likely increase tensions. The death has overshadowed a visit by Ban Ki-moon,the UN secretary-general, to the Palestinian territories to reiterate the commitment of the Quartet of Middle East negotiators' to an independent Palestinian state. The Quartet - which brings together the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the US - had issued a statement condemning Israeli settlement building and calling for a peace deal by 2014 after a meeting in Moscow the previous day. Following Israel's announcement of 1,600 new housing unitsfor a development in East Jerusalem last week, the Palestinian Authority pulled out of planned "proximity" talks demanding a complete halt to settlement activity.