(Ramallah) A Palestinian hospital said Israeli forces killed a teenage girl early Monday (local time) during an army operation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Khalil Suleiman Government Hospital in the northern Palestinian city of Jenin said 16-year-old Jana Zakaran was shot in the head and pronounced dead.
The official Palestinian news agency reported that Jana Zakaran was on the roof of her house and was found dead after Israeli troops withdrew from Jenin.
The Israeli army said it was aware of the teenager’s death and an investigation was underway.
She added that troops entered the city and arrested three wanted Palestinians suspected of attacks on Israelis. Clashes and violent exchanges of fire broke out between soldiers and suspects, the army said.
Around 150 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 were militants. But youths throwing stones to protest Israeli army incursions and others not involved in the clashes were also killed.
Israel has carried out daily arrest raids across the West Bank, part of an operation sparked by a series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis in the spring that left 19 people dead.
Army says raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks, but Palestinians say they are entrenching Israel’s open-ended occupation, now in its 56e year.
At least 31 people have died in Arab attacks in Israel and the occupied West Bank this year, according to Israeli figures.