A 16-year-old Palestinian boy has been shot dead in the West Bank.

Palestinian witnesses and security sources say the teenager was shot by Jewish settlers after rocks were thrown at their car.

Israeli police are investigating but did not confirm that the boy, named as Ayssar Yasser from the village of Mizra al-Sharqiah, had been shot by settlers.

The Israeli army confirmed there was a shooting in the area, near Ramallah, the West Bank's administrative capital.

A Palestinian ambulance driver told the Associated Press that the boy died near his village, not far from the West Bank city of Ramallah, on Thursday evening. He had bullet wounds in his back, the ambulance driver said.

Peace talks

Yediot Ahranot, one of Israel's leading newspapers, reported that some Israelis who were driving by at the time of the incident called the police when they saw a man open fire with an assault rifle.

The death was the first in violence of this kind since Israel and the Palestinians began indirect peace talks on Saturday.

Israel has occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since 1967, settling close to 500,000 Jews in more than 100 settlements. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.