The Palestinian health ministry has said that Israeli troops shot and killed a 13-year-old boy near the occupied West Bank’s main city of Ramallah.

Ghassan Gharib Zahran “was martyred by occupation bullets” at Deir Abu Mishal, near Ramallah, a health ministry statement said.

The Israeli army told AFP that “terrorists threw stones at Israeli vehicles in the Deir Abu Mishal area”.

Troops “responded by opening fire … which led to the injury of one of the terrorists”, the army added in a separate statement.

The boy’s cousin, Munther Zahran, said the dead boy was hit by a “bullet in the stomach” while he was on the main street in Deir Abu Mishal.

“The road is used by settlers and the army is constantly monitoring it,” he added.