Hebron – Ma’an – Israeli soldiers fired bullets and tear gas at a funeral procession for a Palestinian teenager in the West Bank town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, on Monday.

According to witnesses, the attack provoked demonstrations by stone-throwing teenagers that lasted for hours. By nightfall, witnesses said, the violence had subsided. However, the Israeli army has declared the town a “closed military zone,” and closed the main road that passes outside the community. Israeli soldiers remain present inside the town, they said.

Beit Ummar resident Muhammad Awad, a spokesperson for the Palestine Solidarity Project organization, said that the initial attack by the soldiers had been unprovoked, and that the funeral had been proceeding quietly.

Photographs showed that hundreds of residents attended the early-afternoon funeral march, a few carrying Palestinian flags and those of political factions.

Mousa Abu Maria, another member of the Solidarity Project, said that soldiers “stormed” the procession, setting off a confrontation.

A number of people were also said to be mildly injured by rubber-coated bullets during the demonstrations.

A spokesperson for the Israeli military, however, said the blame for the violence laid with the Palestinians. “A riot started” at the funeral, the she said, and Israeli forces responded with tear gas. An Israeli ambulance was damaged by rocks, she said.

The spokesperson said she was unaware of any injuries or arrests. She added, however that Israeli forces barred press photographers from the area for a short time during the demonstration. The spokesperson confirmed that the town and the main road are closed, but the the order is expected to be lifted within hours.

The funeral was that of 17-year-old Mahdi Abu Ayyash, who finally died in Hebron’s Al-Ahli hospital on Monday morning from a gunshot wound he sustained on 4 March. An Israeli soldier shot him in the head during a demonstration, putting him into a seven-month-long coma.