A 13-year-old Palestinian boy carrying a toy weapon has been shot and critically wounded in the occupied West Bank after Israeli troops mistook him for a gunman.
The shooting, during an Israeli raid to detain suspected Palestinian militants in Jenin, came amid the worst surge of violence since a truce was agreed nine months ago.
The boy remains in a critical condition in hospital with wounds to his head and abdomen.
The Israeli army said soldiers identified the youth as carrying a weapon and opened fire. Only later did they discover the boy's weapon was plastic rather than a real rifle.
Gunbattles between Israeli troops and militants from Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades flared after more than 30 army jeeps moved into Jenin shadowed by two helicopters.
The operation targeting Palestinian militants comes as part of ongoing operations in the wake of a suicide bombing in Israel on 26 October.
Jenin has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting over the five years of the intifada.
On Tuesday, two Palestinians were wounded after 40 Israeli tanks and jeeps converged on Jenin to arrest a local chief of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Troops fired artillery rounds at Gaza overnight in response to the launching of two Palestinian rockets towards southern Israel.
