Zionist troops shot and killed a Palestinian youth on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank.

Zionist troops shot and killed a Palestinian youth on Wednesday in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials and the Zionist military said.

Youssef Shawamra, 16, was killed when three Palestinians were seen tampering with a security fence near the West Bank city of Al-Khalil (Hebron), and did not heed the soldiers' call on them to stop and move back, a Zionist military spokeswoman claimed.

"Israeli troops opened fire on the youth when he tried to cross the barrier," one eyewitness said. "He was killed instantly."

Frustrated by the unemployment rate in the West Bank, Palestinian youths sometimes try to cross the barrier hoping to find jobs in the Occupied Territories.
Eyewitnesses said Zionist troops were still holding the slain youth's body.

Palestinian officials say Zionist forces have killed 57 Palestinians and injured almost 897 others since the resumption of U.S.-brokered peace talks last July.

Last month, Amnesty International published a report which said Zionist forces were using excessive violence in the West Bank, killing dozens of Palestinians over the past three years in what the rights group said might constitute a war crime.