Armed Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have shot two Palestinian men, critically wounding one of them, the mayor of a Palestinian village says.

Dozens of armed Israeli settlers invaded Beit Ummar near Hebron village on Friday and started shooting at houses, hitting two youths working on land nearby, mayor of the village Fawzi Sabarna said.

Palestinian medical sources named those wounded in the incident as relatives 17-year-old Yusef Ikhlil and 19-year-old Murad Ikhlil.

Yusef Ikhlil, who was shot in the head, is on a life support machine at Al-Ahly hospital in Hebron while Murad Ikhlil was admitted to the same hospital with a gunshot wound to an arm.

In another incident on Thursday, residents of Yitzhar settlement clashed with some 70 Palestinian villagers, who were protesting the construction of illegal settlements on their lands, Ma’an news agency reported.

The Israeli settlers opened fire on the protesters killing 19-year-old Udai Maher Qadous who was hit in the chest, according to Palestinian eyewitnesses.

The Palestinian victim was transferred to Rafidiyeh Hospital in Nablus, where he succumbed to internal bleeding triggered by several gunshots he had suffered to his chest, Palestinian medical officials said.

Israel has been persistently proceeding with the construction of illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The United Nations has repeatedly condemned Israel for defying international calls to halt its settlement construction activities.

(Press TV)