NABLUS, West Bank,(Reuters) – Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian teenager on Sunday in a confrontation with stone-throwers in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian ambulance workers said.

An Israeli army spokesman said troops patrolling Askar refugee camp near the city of Nablus stopped to remove a pile of rocks blocking the road when they were attacked by Palestinians, who threw stones at them.

The soldiers shot at them, the spokesman said.

Local ambulance workers said soldiers firing at the stone-throwers shot a 15-year-old in the head and he died on the way to hospital.

Also on Sunday, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at Israel in violation of a truce in effect since last week, an Israeli military spokeswoman said. The rocket caused no injuries or damage.

Under the Nov. 26 truce, Palestinian militant groups said they would halt rocket fire at Israel if Israel stopped attacks against Palestinians.

Israel ended a five-month offensive in Gaza afterwards but has not halted military patrols and searches for militants in the West Bank, where the ceasefire is not in effect.

The Gaza offensive, billed mainly as an attempt to stop daily rocket strikes, was launched after armed Palestinian groups in Gaza, including the governing Hamas faction, abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid in June.