Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager in West Bank home demolition raid

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager during a raid on a West Bank village on Monday, as protests broke out over the Israeli army's plans to demolish an alleged attacker's home.

Mohammed Abu Salah, 17, was killed after Israeli forces entered the village of Silat al-Harithiya near the flashpoint town of Jenin, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The teenager succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained on his head, according to the Palestinian Authority's Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces entered the village "to demolish the floor of the residence in which the terrorist Muhammad Jaradat resided", the army said in a statement.

Israel blamed Jaradat and others for the fatal shooting of a Jewish settler in the illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh in December.

The demolition of Jaradat's home sparked protests from local residents, who Israeli forces met with teargas and gunfire.

The head of the ambulance service in Jenin, Mahmoud Al-Saadi, said Israeli forces prevented emergency services from entering the area to treat the wounded, Wafa reported.

At least 20 Palestinians were injured during the Israeli incursion.

Abu Salah's body, draped in a white sheet, was hoisted by mourners ahead of his funeral later on Monday.

Silat al-Harithiya was shuttered early Monday, as commands to attend the burial rang out from the mosque's loudspeakers.

Demolitions

Israel's army, which said it had completed the demolition and withdrawn from the village, regularly destroys the homes of individuals it blames for attacks on Israelis.

The practice has been condemned by human rights groups as a form of collective punishment. 

The army said Jaradat was allegedly responsible for the death of Yehuda Dimentman, killed when gunmen sprayed a settler car with roughly a dozen bullets as it drove out of Homesh in December. Two others were injured in the attack.

Homesh had been evacuated by Israeli forces in 2005 but settlers continued to operate there, fuelling tensions with local Palestinians.

Israel arrested four people days after the December shooting.

Around 475,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank, alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians, in communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is the former head of a settler lobbying council who opposes Palestinian statehood.

He has ruled out any formal peace talks with Palestinians during his tenure but said he will work to improve economic conditions in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Six Day War.