AFP, Ramallah

Israeli forces shot dead an 18-year-old Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said yesterday, while the military said it had killed someone who threw firebombs at vehicles.

In the early hours of yesterday, the health ministry said it had been informed of “the martyrdom of the young man Haitham Ezzedine Omar Hmeida, 18, by occupation gunfire in the village of Beitin,” north east of Ramallah.

It added that the man’s body was being withheld.

In a statement, the Israeli military said its forces had “identified several terrorists throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli vehicles traveling on a major roadway” near the village of Beitin.