A 12-year-old boy died in the occupied West Bank when he was hit by a bullet in the chest during clashes between residents of Beita, south of Nablus, and members of the Israeli army conducting an operation, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry.

The child was taken to a hospital where he succumbed on Thursday night, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.

According to the same source, the reason why the Israeli soldiers opened fire on the 12-year-old is not clear.

Chahal, the Israeli military, limited itself to saying that it was reviewing information about the incident.

The already tense situation in the West Bank, an area occupied by Israel since 1967, has further worsened since October 7, when Hamas militants launched a raid against southern sectors of Israeli territory, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 240 hostage, in the deadliest attack by the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948.

Since then some 220 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank in clashes with the Israeli army and attacks by Jewish settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry.

Chahal, for his part, says he has arrested more than 1,800 suspects in “anti-terrorist” operations in the West Bank, the majority for alleged links to Hamas.

The number of Palestinians killed in the West Bank this year is at least 416.

More than 14,800 people, including some 6,150 children, have died in the Gaza Strip, which has been pounded relentlessly by the Israeli military since the attack, as the Israeli government vowed to “wipe out” Hamas, according to the latest count. Ministry of Health.