Bear in West Bank zoo bites off Palestinian boy's arm and eats it

A bear bit off and ate the forearm of a nine-year-old Palestinian boy as he tried to feed it at the zoo.

The boy was on a school visit to the zoo in the occupied West Bank town of Qalqilya, Palestinian police said.

A police spokesman said the boy approached the caged bear with food when the animal pounced, severing the limb at the elbow.

The bear then ate the arm, he added.

The boy was rushed to a local hospital and then to the An-Najah National University Hospital in Nablus.

Police have launched an investigation into the attack.

The Palestinian Ministry of Local Governance have closed the zoo until further notice, the Ma'an news service reports.

An investigative committee is expected to deliver a report within a week.