He was the latest casualty in what is already one of the most violent periods in the West Bank in recent years.

The ministry said 17-year-old Hamza al-Ashqar died of a gunshot wound to the head but provided no additional details about the incident. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The incident came a day after Israeli forces killed five Palestinian alleged to be linked to the militant Hamas group in a raid on refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army has staged almost nightly raids across Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank which they say is in response to a series of deadly attacks in Israel last spring. 

The Palestinian Authority declared it would cease security coordination with Israel after 10 Palestinians were killed in a raid last month.

Nearly 150 Palestinians were killed last year in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures by the Israeli rights group B'Tselem. Since the start of this year, some 42 Palestinians have been killed in those occupied territories, including nine children and an elderly woman.

The Israeli army claims most of the Palestinians killed have been militants. But youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians seek those territories for a future independent state. The UN General Assembly asked the International Court of Justice in December to consider consequences for Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territorie

*This story was edited by Ahram Online