JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian was killed and 11 were wounded by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Tuesday.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that clashes erupted between Israeli forces and residents of north Hebron city on Monday evening.
The Israeli military said soldiers shot at Palestinians who hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the forces who were operating in the town. It said the Palestinians also shot at the troops, and two army vehicles got stuck due to mechanical issues.
The ministry said nine Palestinians were wounded by live fire and two others suffered breathing problems from tear gas. One of the wounded succumbed early Tuesday, the ministry said, without identifying him.
Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been surging for months amid nightly Israeli raids in the occupied West Bank prompted by a spate of deadly attacks against Israelis that killed 19 people in the spring.
More than 138 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, making it the deadliest year since 2006. The Israeli army says most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But stone-throwing youths protesting Israeli army incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for independent state.
