Palestinian student beaten unconscious by Israeli soldiers near Bethlehem

Israeli soldiers beat unconscious a 15-year-old Palestinian student after cornering him on his way home from school in the West Bank village of Taqu, near Bethlehem, on Sunday, witnesses and a school official said.

Hisham Khaled Moussa Ali, a student at the Taqu Boys Secondary School was assaulted by the soldiers on the main road in the village on Sunday afternoon, said school headmaster Salem Abu Mfarreh.

A crowd of Palestinian residents converged on scene and managed to retrieve the boy, who was taken to the public hospital in the town of Beit Jala.