Palestinian baby dies from Israeli tear gas in West Bank home

A Palestinian baby has died after inhaling tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes near his home in West Bank, Palestinian officials said. The incident that happened near the town of Bethlehem is likely to further raise tensions in the region.

The Palestinian health ministry said the eight-month-old boy, Ramadan Thawabteh, died as tear gas fired at stone throwers seeped into his room, in the village of Beit Fajjar, AFP reported. Israeli soldiers were trying to quell violent protests in the area. Three Palestinians were also injured in the clashes, the Ma'an news agency reported.

Ramadan's death was the third reported in the West Bank and Jerusalem on 30 October, as the wave of violence that engulfed Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories showed no sign of abating.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian attacker stabbed and wounded an American man at a light rail station before being shot dead by responding security forces. An Israeli man was also injured in the crossfire, AP reported.

Separately in the West Bank, Israeli forces opened fire on two knife-wielding Palestinians who charged a checkpoint south of Nablus. One of the assailants was killed while the second was critically wounded. The dead attacker was identified by Palestinian medics as 18-year-old Mahmoud Sabaaneh.

Meanwhile Palestinian officials, including President Mahmoud Abbas, travelled to The Hague, in the Netherlands, where they handed International Criminal Court prosecutors what they say is evidence of Israeli crimes perpetrated during the recent weeks of unrest.

The documentation includes allegations of extra-judicial executions by Israeli troops and forms of collective punishment against the Palestinians.

Some 11 Israelis and more than 60 Palestinians have lost their lives since turmoil began in September amid Palestinian fears that prayer rules at Temple Mount, a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem.

The hilltop compound known as al-Haram al-Sharif (The Noble Sanctuary) to Muslims has long been at the centre of disputes and violence with Palestinians. It is considered the holiest site for Jews but it is also Islam's third holiest site after Mecca and Medina, and contains the famous al-Aqsa mosque.

The site has been administered by an Islamic Waqf (trust), under the authority of Jordan, since the Crusades, while Israel has controlled access to it since the occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, also implementing a ban on all non-Muslim prayers as a security measure.