Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Boy in West Bank

Palestinians inspect the house of Tel Aviv attacker Raed Hazem after it was demolished by Israeli forces in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 6, 2022 REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
Palestinians inspect the house of Tel Aviv attacker Raed Hazem after it was demolished by Israeli forces in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 6, 2022 REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
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Israeli Forces Kill Palestinian Boy in West Bank

Palestinians inspect the house of Tel Aviv attacker Raed Hazem after it was demolished by Israeli forces in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 6, 2022 REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
Palestinians inspect the house of Tel Aviv attacker Raed Hazem after it was demolished by Israeli forces in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank September 6, 2022 REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager Sunday in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, with the army reporting they came under fire during a raid.

The ministry reported 14-year-old Qusai Radwan Waked died "as a result of being seriously wounded in the abdomen by live fire from the occupation (Israel)" in Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank.

The army said Israeli forces were shot at while they were trying to arrest an alleged Palestinian militant, while "explosive devices and rocks" were also thrown at them.

"We are aware of the reports regarding a number of armed individuals who got injured during the exchange of fire," an army statement said, adding that no troops were hurt.

An AFP photographer saw the teenager's body wrapped in a sheet and being carried on a stretcher.

Elsewhere in the northern West Bank on Sunday, Palestinian mourners gathered for the funeral of a 27-year-old man shot dead allegedly by an Israeli settler.

Mithkal Suleiman Rayyan was shot in the head Saturday near the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan, where the army reported "heavy clashes between dozens of Palestinians and Israeli civilians".

Attia Asi, who witnessed the killing, said the shooting happened before soldiers arrived.

"In the beginning it was in the air, then it turned towards the (Palestinian) guys, aiming to kill," he told AFP at the funeral.



Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
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Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organizations" in Syria under its new leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.

The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighboring Syria from causing new instability in the region.

There is no place for "terrorist organizations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.

Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."

He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.

The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIS, which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.

But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".