JERUSALEM \/ ISTANBUL<\/p>\n
Two Palestinian teens were shot and killed by Israeli forces in the town of al-Judeira, northwest of Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said Friday.<\/p>\n
The ministry identified the victims as Mohammad Abdullah Taim and Mohammad Rashad Fadl Qassem, both 16, saying Israeli troops \u201cfired a heavy barrage of live bullets at them in the upper neighborhood of al-Judeira before seizing their bodies,\u201d according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.<\/p>\n
The Israeli army said in a statement that \u201con Thursday, during an ambush conducted by Unit 636 in the al-Judeira area, two individuals were observed igniting and throwing Molotov cocktails toward a main road.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Israeli force neutralized the two individuals, and there were no injuries among our troops,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s public broadcaster KAN reported that the army \u201ckilled both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Jerusalem Governorate said in a separate statement that Israeli forces \u201ctargeted the two “with a heavy barrage of live fire in the upper neighborhood near the separation and expansion wall, close to residential homes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerusalem is surrounded by a concrete and barbed-wire barrier built mostly inside the West Bank, standing more than 8 meters (26 feet) high and stretching about 202 kilometers (125 miles), according to the Israeli human rights group B\u2019Tselem.<\/p>\n
While Israel says the barrier was built for security reasons, Palestinians and the UN describe it as part of a plan to annex occupied land.<\/p>\n
In 2004, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion deeming the wall illegal because it was constructed inside the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n