The Israeli Army killed in the early hours of this Wednesday two young Palestinians, one of them a minor 16 years old, during the clashes in the northern West Bank. In this way, the number of Palestinians killed in this territory rises to 470 since the beginning of 2023, the bloodiest year since 2002.

The Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority has announced the death of Mazen Muhammad Zahran, 23 years oldand Obadia Imad Khaled Bani Odeh, 16. The first was shot by the Israeli Army in the town of Al Faraa and the second in Tamoun. In turn, the Israeli Army has indicated to the Efe agency that it was investigating the circumstances in which both young men died.

For its part, the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, has explained that their deaths occurred within the framework of clashes between local youth and Israeli troops, triggered by military operations of the Army. Furthermore, he has highlighted that other 11 Palestinians suffered gunshot wounds during the confrontations.

Occupied West Bank lives its greatest spiral of violence since the Second Intifada (2000-05) and in this 2023 already 470 Palestinians have died, the highest number in more than 20 years. Most died in armed clashes with Israeli troops, although many were civilians and more than 100 were minors.

The situation in the West Bank has worsened following the Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza that erupted on October 7, and since then, 262 West Bank Palestinians, including more than 65 minors, have died in violent circumstances, nine of them from settler attacksincluding a child.

In parallel, the area has seen for more than a year the proliferation of new Palestinian armed groups, which have caused 41 deaths, most of them Israeli settlers, five of them minors, and seven in uniform. Since the war in Gaza began, Israel has further intensified its interventions military in the West Bank and has imprisoned more