An autopsy of the body of Nadim Nawara, one of the two Palestinian teenagers killed last month north of Jerusalem, has indicated that his death was caused by live bullets.

The IDF has denied that its forces used live fire in the incident in which Nawara and Muhmmad Salama, both 17, were killed.

The circumstances of the deaths of the two teenagers in a Palestinian demonstration at Bituniya have been hotly contested.

While Palestinian witnesses and medical personnel claim they were deliberately killed using live bullets, the IDF has insisted that all Israeli soldiers and police officers on the scene used tear-gas and rubber-coated bullets - designed for riot-control - but not live ammunition.

The autopsy, which took place in Abu Dis, was carried out by Palestinian doctors and was attended by pathologists from Israel and abroad. The pathologists concurred that the entry and exit wounds and bullet splinters found in the body clearly indicated he was killed by live ammunition.

Israeli military sources said that the incident was still under investigation and that there was still no proof of any soldier or police officer using anything other than riot-control ammunition.