Israeli military kills Palestinian after fight over West Bank well

Reporting from Jerusalem —  Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager and critically injured another Saturday after a clash between Jewish settlers and Palestinians over a West Bank water well, officials said.

It marks some of the worst such violence in more than a year and comes at a time of heightened tensions over Israeli settlements.

Feuding between Palestinians and Jewish settlers over a spring at Iraq Burin village near the city of Nablus has occurred almost weekly. Palestinians accuse the settlers of trying to take control of the spring.

Israeli military officials said they responded Saturday to an “illegal riot” and opened fire after Palestinians began throwing rocks.

Military officials said they fired rubber bullets at the Palestinians, but hospital officials in Nablus said live ammunition was used.

Mohamed Qadous, 16, died from injuries to the chest, hospital officials said. A 19-year-old man was critically wounded with a shot to the head.

The clashes came as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited the West Bank on Saturday and reiterated his call for Israel to halt its settlement expansion.

“Let us be clear,” Ban said.

“All settlement activity is illegal anywhere in occupied territory and must be stopped.”

edmund.sanders

@latimes.com