JERUSALEM, September 18, 2018 (WAFA) – Israeli police opened fire on Tuesday at a Palestinian near Damascus Gate in occupied Jerusalem and killed him, according to witnesses and the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The ministry said Israel informed the Palestinian Coordinating Office that the Palestinian was killed but he was not identified.

Israel claimed the Palestinian, identified only as 17 years old from the West Bank, attempted to attack an Israeli in an area known as Musrara, just outside Damascus Gate, and then ran away before he was shot.

Witnesses, however, rejected the Israeli story and said that the Palestinian was not armed and did not attack the Israeli but that an argument occurred between them and when police intervened on behalf of the Israeli, the Palestinian tried to get away and was gunned down.

They said police opened a barrage of gunfire at him and that he was seen motionless on the ground.

Police closed off the area and kept people away, preventing Palestinian medics from reaching him, said the witnesses.

Police also stopped and harassed young Palestinians who were in the area and closed Damascus Gate, one of the main gates to Jerusalem‘s Old City.

Police have intensified their presence in occupied Jerusalem on Tuesday, the eve of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday.

M.K.