Jerusalem Palestinians Strike Over Teen Killing

Palestinian shops were shuttered across East Jerusalem on Saturday to protest the killing of a Palestinian teenager by Israeli forces.



Israeli police forces were deployed across the city in anticipation of potential clashes with Palestinians.



Earlier Saturday, Israeli forces shot dead Ali Abu Ghanim, 17, at Al-Zaim checkpoint in East Jerusalem.



Police spokesperson Luba Samri said in a statement that the teenager was shot after running towards an Israeli checkpoint bearing a knife.



But the teenager's father has cast doubts on the Israeli police narrative of the killing.



"The police say he ran toward the checkpoint waving a knife but I told them that if someone wants to stab another, he doesn't wave his knife. Rather, he hides it and uses it once he reaches the troops," the father said.



He said Israeli police insist that Ali's body will not be handed over unless his funeral procession is limited to small number of mourners.



Meanwhile, eyewitnesses told The Anadolu Agency that Israeli police had raided the home of the alleged attacker in al-Tor town in East Jerusalem and confiscated some of his belongings.



Recent months have seen an uptick in violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, which has led to deaths and injuries on both sides.



Several Israelis have been killed or injured amid increasingly frequent Palestinian attacks.



Israeli forces, meanwhile, continued to carry out raids on West Bank villages, frequently rounding up groups of young Palestinian men on claims they are "wanted" by Israeli authorities.



Israeli troops also typically use force to disperse weekly Palestinian demonstrations against the self-proclaimed Jewish state's decades-long occupation, which occasionally leads to fatalities among protesters.



Palestinians, meanwhile, decry frequent attacks by extremist Jewish settlers on their communities and property in the occupied territories.



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