Israeli occupation forces shot and killed 17‑year‑old Salim Sami Salim Fuqaha’ on Monday evening near the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank’s central part and moderately wounded another Palestinian who remains in moderate condition.
The General Authority of Civil Affairs confirmed the teenager’s death and said the occupation authorities immediately seized his body, denying his family the ability to recover it.
The shooting occurred near the Sinjil junction, an area that has seen heightened military activity in recent weeks.
Witnesses said soldiers closed the road within minutes, surrounding the scene and preventing anyone from approaching. The army claimed that the soldiers opened fire at Palestinians who hurled stones at the military vehicles.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its ambulance crews were blocked at a distance and were not permitted to reach the wounded, despite repeated attempts to coordinate access.
Residents described watching paramedics being turned back while the injured were left on the ground under armed guard.
Local sources said the military’s refusal to allow medical intervention lasted for an extended period, a pattern that has become increasingly common in similar incidents across the central West Bank.
Several residents who tried to move toward the area were threatened by soldiers and ordered to remain inside nearby homes and shops.
Following the shooting, a large Israeli military force invaded Sinjil, spreading through multiple neighborhoods and conducting searches in homes and commercial properties.
Soldiers stopped vehicles, interrogated residents, and restricted movement across the town. Drones were seen circling overhead as troops moved between residential blocks, creating a tense atmosphere that lasted late into the night.
The killing of Fuqaha’ adds to a growing list of Palestinian minors shot by Israeli forces since the beginning of the year, amid a broader escalation of military incursions, land seizures, and confrontations across the West Bank.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly warned that the combination of lethal force and the systematic obstruction of medical teams inflict heightened risk on the Palestinians.
As of Monday night, the occupation continued to withhold the teenager’s body, part of a long‑standing Israeli policy of retaining the remains of Palestinians killed by its forces.
Rights groups have condemned the practice as a form of collective punishment that inflicts additional suffering on families already grieving their loss.
Before dawn on Sunday, Israeli undercover forces infiltrated the town of Tammun, south of Tubas in the occupied West Bank’s northeastern area, before dawn on Sunday and opened fire on a Palestinian family’s vehicle, killing the father, mother, and two of their children, and injuring their other two children.
Also Sunday, illegal Israeli colonizers killed a Palestinian young man and wounded others on Saturday, after storming the village of Qusra, south of Nablus in the northern occupied
West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry announced the death of 28-year-old Amir Mu’tasim Mahmoud Odah, after Israeli settlers shot him with live rounds during confrontations in Qusra village.
On Sunday March 7, three Palestinians, Thaer Farouq Hamayel, 24, and Fares Jawdat Hamayel, 57, were killed after Israeli colonizers shot them both in the head with live ammunition after infiltrating Abu Falah village, northeast of Ramallah in the central occupied West Bank.
During the attack, a third citizen Mohammad Hassan Murra, 55, died after arriving to the hospital in cardiac arrest after being exposed to tear gas fired by occupation forces, while three others were shot with live rounds, one in the head, one in the pelvis, and another in the shoulder.
Since the beginning of the Israeli military aggression against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, occupation forces and settlers have killed 1133 Palestinian citizens, and injured 10,483 in the occupied West Bank, including 233 children and 24 women.
In the Jenin governorate, 310 Palestinians have been killed, while 213 were killed in Tulkarem, 147 in Nablus, 110 in Hebron, 102 in Tubas, 86 in Ramallah, 62 in Jerusalem, 44 in Qalqilia, 36 in Bethlehem, 15 in Jericho and the Jordan Valley, and 8 in Salfit, according to the Shireen Observatory.
