JERUSALEM — The Israeli military on Tuesday said it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of a teenage boy by its soldiers in the occupied West Bank over the weekend.

 

Surveillance footage circulating on social media appears to show the boy approaching two Israeli soldiers at an intersection in the town of Qabatiya, in the northern West Bank.

 

In the video, one of the soldiers, who is kneeling, stands up and opens fire, after which the teenager is seen collapsing.

 

On Saturday, the Israeli military said it conducted an operation in the Qabatiya area, south of Jenin.

 

At the time, it said that "a terrorist hurled a block toward the soldiers, who responded with fire and eliminated the terrorist".

 

However, the footage does not show the 16-year-old throwing anything at the soldiers. He was later identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Rayan Mohammed Abu Muala.

 

Mohammed Abu Muala, the boy's father, told AFP that his son had intended to go to a shop nearby but turned back after noticing military vehicles in the area.

 

"Thinking the military had left, he stepped outside but was shocked to see soldiers still on the ground, who then opened fire on him," Abu Muala said.

 

"My son wasn't carrying anything and didn't do anything," he said. "Had he known there were soldiers there, he wouldn't have stepped onto the road.

 

"He was just 16 and was killed for no reason. They could have arrested him, there was no reason to shoot," Abu Muala said.

 

Violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has soared since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 triggered the Gaza war.

 

It has not subsided despite the truce between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in October.

 

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,027 Palestinians, many of them militants but also scores of civilians, in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures.

 

At least 44 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations in the same period, according to official Israeli figures.

 

Meanwhile defence Minister Israel Katz vowed on Tuesday that Israel would remain in Gaza and pledged to establish outposts there, but his office swiftly downplayed the remarks made at a settlement in the occupied West Bank.

 

His remarks come as mediators are pressing for the implementation of the next phases of a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, which would involve an Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

 

US President Donald Trump's 20-point plan for the truce states that "Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza."

 

Katz also vowed to establish outposts in the north of Gaza in place of settlements that had been evacuated during Israel's unilateral disengagement from the territory in 2005.

 

But in a statement issued shortly after, Katz's office downplayed the remarks and said they "were made solely in a security context".

 

Katz's comments were slammed by former minister and army chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot, who accused the government of "acting against the broad national consensus, during a critical period for Israel's national security".

 

The next phases of Trump's plan would involve an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the establishment of an interim authority to govern the territory in place of Hamas and the deployment of an international stabilisation force.

 

It also envisages the demilitarisation of Gaza, including the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has refused.

 

On Thursday, several Israelis entered the Gaza Strip in defiance of army orders and held a symbolic flag-raising ceremony to call for the reoccupation and resettlement of the Palestinian territory.