Israeli soldiers shoot dead Palestinian boy

A Palestinian boy was killed by Israeli soldiers who fired rubber-coated bullets at demonstrators near Jerusalem, said the Palestinian health ministry.

"Mohiyeh al-Tabakhi, 12, was killed by shots fired by occupation soldiers in the Al-Ram area near Jerusalem," the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Palestinian suburb in the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem is cut off from the Holy City by the "separation wall" built by Israel. The boy was hit in the chest by a rubber-coated bullet which caused cardiac arrest, medical sources were quoted by the Palestinian news agency WAFA as saying.

Earlier on Tuesday, a Palestinian was shot after stabbing two Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. He died of his wounds, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Mustafa Baradeah, 51, lightly wounded the soldiers with a screwdriver before being shot, the army said. They said he had a knife in his possession.

The incidents are the latest in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Since October, 217 Palestinians and 34 Israelis have been killed in attacks and clashes. Many of the Palestinians have died while carrying out or attempting to carry out attacks on Israelis, while others were shot dead during protests or were killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.