Palestinian teens killed by Israeli soldiers in West Bank clashes

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israeli soldiers opened fire at Palestinian youths Wednesday night near an army-controlled checkpoint outside the northern West Bank city of Tulkarm, killing two, according to Palestinian medical officials.

They said Amer Nasser, 17, of Anabta town, was killed when soldiers opened fire at youths throwing rocks and fire bombs at the checkpoint.

Palestinian medics said they were kept away from the teen’s body, which was left on open ground, for an extended period before being allowed to take it to Tulkarm hospital.

The body of a second teenager, Naji Balbisi, 17, was found early Thursday near a house in the vicinity of the checkpoint. He had been declared missing after the confrontation with the Israeli soldiers the night before.

The clashes near Tulkarm were one of many that broke out in various West Bank locations to protest the death of a Palestinian prisoner in Israel who died of cancer the day before at an Israeli hospital.

An Israeli autopsy on Maysara abu Hamdieh, 63, conducted Wednesday confirmed that he died of throat cancer. Palestinians charged that Israelis were medically negligent in his treatment. Israeli officials have denied the allegation.

Hamdieh’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday in the West Bank city of Hebron, his hometown, where the most serious clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers took place Wednesday.

Many Palestinians were hurt in the Hebron violence, with two reported struck by live bullets and one hit in the face by a rubber-coated bullet. They were not seriously injured.

[Updated 9:55 p.m. April 3: An earlier version of this story did not include the second victim killed in violence at the Israeli checkpoint.]

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