Palestinian teen killed in army raid as settlers hold march

Jerusalem, Apr. 11: The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli fire during an army raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday. The shooting came as thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched to an evacuated settlement in the territory.

The march was a defiant signal that Israel's most right-wing government in history is determined to accelerate settlement building on occupied lands despite international opposition. It also poses a new test for Israel's security forces after days of unrest fueled by tensions over a contested Jerusalem holy site.

Israeli police and army forces were being deployed to the northern West Bank — the scene of frequent tensions in recent months — to secure the march, which comes after days of fighting in Jerusalem and along Israel's northern and southern fronts.

The demonstration added to the already combustible atmosphere in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank that has accompanied the overlapping of major Jewish and Muslim holy days. Tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have reached a fever pitch in recent weeks surrounding the Jerusalem shrine.

The Israeli army said its troops were operating in the Aqabat Jaber refugee camp next to Jericho in the West Bank. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 15-year-old Mohammed Balhan was killed by army fire.

The army did not immediately respond to request for comment about the incident.

The march to Eviatar, an unauthorized settlement outpost in the northern West Bank that was evacuated by the previous Israeli government in 2021, was being led by hard-line ultranationalist Jewish settlers. Organizers are calling for the settlement's reestablishment and legalization.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads the most religious and ultranationalist government in Israel's history. Several members of his Cabinet, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — both West Bank settlers — and at least 20 members of Knesset were expected to take part in the march.

Visits to Eviatar were officially banned by the military since its evacuation, but that prohibition has been loosely enforced in recent months. Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said the military approved Monday's march, saying it would be "highly monitored and highly protected."

Ohad Tal, a lawmaker with the Religious Zionist party, said that "there was no reason in the world to cancel the march."

"We need to send a message — the message that we don't intend to concede and we are here to stay," he told Army Radio.

Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have soared following last week's police raid on Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The hilltop shrine is the emotional ground zero of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For Jews, it is known as the Temple Mount, their faith's holiest site and the place where two temples stood in antiquity. For Muslims, it is known as the Noble Sanctuary, home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

Dozens of Jewish visitors entered the site on Monday escorted by Israeli police for a second consecutive day. These tours by religious and nationalist Jews have increased in size and frequency in recent years, raising fears by Palestinians that Israel may partition the site. Israel insists it has no intention of changing the longstanding arrangement that permits Jewish visits, but not worship, at the Muslim-administered shrine. (AP)