One Palestinian killed as West Bank protesters clash with Israeli troops

About 150 Palestinian students threw firebombs and rocks at Israeli soldiers who responded with tear gas and rubber-coated metal bullets in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday after an Israeli raid on their university.

Also on Wednesday, a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli troops during clashes with stone-throwers in Dheisha refugee camp near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, an ambulance service official said.

He identified the victim as a volunteer wearing a paramedic uniform.The Israeli military said troops “responded with riot disperal means” against dozens of Palestinians who threw cinder blocks and rocks at them, and that it was aware of one casualty.

“One of the rioters was spotted taking off his Palestine Red Crescent (medics) vest before hurling blocks,” the military said in a statement.

The West Bank violence occurred after two days of cross-border fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in the Gaza area.

In the university unrest, three protesters were wounded by rubber bullets and two treated for tear gas inhalation, ambulance crews said. There were no reports of Israeli casualties.

The protest broke out after Israeli forces, in a night-time raid on Tuesday, arrested three students at Birzeit University. Pro-Hamas activists at the school said the three identified with the Islamist group. The military said that overnight it had detained 11 Palestinians in the West Bank suspected of what it termed terrorist activity but gave no specifics.