JERUSALEM: Zionist forces shot dead a Palestinian teenager in a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, the Palestinian health ministry said. Usama Adawi, 18, was killed "by occupation (Zionist military) live fire to the stomach in the Al-Aroub camp", in the southern West Bank, the health ministry said. Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he was killed in clashes during which Zionist forces shot at Palestinians and used tear gas.

The shooting comes a day after a Zionist soldier was shot and killed near Nablus in the northern West Bank, prompting an ongoing manhunt. Security forces are also in pursuit of a gunman who killed a soldier at a checkpoint in Zionist-annexed east Jerusalem on Saturday.

Palestinians went on strike Wednesday in Jerusalem to protest the Zionist operation in the Shuafat refugee camp next to the checkpoint which has severely impeded daily life. An AFP journalist witnessed clashes in the camp Wednesday, with Zionist forces firing tear gas at stone-throwing Palestinian youth. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed during Zionist military raids in the West Bank in recent months. Five Palestinian teenagers have been shot dead in the West Bank since Friday, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Additionally, a 12-year-old boy shot in an earlier Zionist raid died from his wounds on Monday.

Businesses were shuttered in the Old City and along the main commercial street of the city's eastern sector, which is usually bustling with shoppers and traffic. Entrances to the refugee camp have been mostly shut, while the raids have affected schools and healthcare. In Jerusalem's Old City, Nawal Jodeh said her daughter lives in the camp with her family. "When I talked to her, she said the situation is bad there," the 50-year-old told AFP. "I heard the sound of shooting and teargas canisters," she added.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said the violence and extra checkpoints had prompted it to close its schools and healthcare center in the camp. "The situation is really tense there on the ground," spokesman Kazem Abu Khalaf told AFP, adding that tons of uncollected garbage are piling up.

During a visit to the camp on Tuesday, the Zionist entity's Arab lawmaker Ahmad Tibi said the armed forces operation amounted to "collective punishment". "Sick people are not able to get outside to be treated, bakeries are empty, some physicians and doctors and nurses were not able to get in," he told AFP.

The strike across Palestinian neighborhoods of east Jerusalem came as thousands of Jewish residents gathered in the city to mark the week-long Sukkot holiday. Zionist police have deployed reinforcements for the holiday amid a spike in Zionist-Palestinian violence. The Zionist military said Wednesday it had also blocked roads leading to Nablus, where Palestinians were also observing the strike. - AFP