A Palestinian teenager from Jerusalem who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier with a rubber-coated steel bullet a week ago succumbed to his wounds Sunday morning, his father said.

Abd al-Majid Sunuqrut told Ma’an that his son Muhammad Abd Al-Majid Sunuqrut, 16, “died as a martyr this morning and his body is expected to be taken to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for an autopsy to be undertaken by a Palestinian doctor and a lawyer.”

Muhammad was shot on Monday by Israeli forces in the head as he was talking on the phone in Wadi al-Joz in what his father at the time told Ma’an was an “unprovoked attack.”

The youth suffered a fractured skull as a result of the attack and at the time underwent surgery at Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem in order to stop bleeding and remove fragments caused by the impact of the bullet.

His father said the youth was preparing for the new school year when he was shot.

Israeli forces have stepped up repression of dissent among Palestinians in Jerusalem over summer, with Addameer prisoner rights group saying in late August that more than 770 Palestinians in the previous two months.

In parallel with the arrest campaign, forces have conducted nightly raids across the city which have led to often violent clashes and protests.

Although Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem live within territory Israel has unilaterally annexed, they lack citizenship rights and are instead classified only as “residents” whose permits can be revoked.

(Ma’an – www.maannews.net)