BUDRUS, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli soldiers shot dead 17-year-old Palestinian Sameer Awad near the village of Budrus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian witnesses and medics said, and a second boy was shot and injured by soldiers in a nearby village.

Violence and deadly confrontations have become more frequent in the Palestinian territory since Israel announced plans late last year to expand settlements and the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at the United Nations in November.

Awad was the second Palestinian killed in four days by Israeli troops in the West Bank, where most clashes in recent years have not ended with fatalities.

Budrus, north of Ramallah is next to a barrier Israel says is meant to keep out suicide bombers. The barrier is a focal point for protests by local residents against Israeli soldiers.

Awad's classmates said they were on the way to school on a bus when clashes broke out between demonstrators and Israeli soldiers patrolling the barrier.

It was unclear whether the teenager was shot on the bus, or whether people from the bus had taken part in the demonstration.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said several Palestinians approached the security fence near Budrus and damaged it as they attempted to cross into Israel.

"Soldiers at the scene responded immediately in order to secure the area and to prevent the infiltration," she said.

Clashes subsequently broke out at Awad's funeral as local youths threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who responded by firing teargas and rubber bullets.

In the nearby village of Deir Nidham, Israeli soldiers shot a Palestinian boy, who was taken to be treated in an Israeli hospital, Palestinian medics said. A local source named the boy as Yazan, and said he was 12 or 13.

The Israeli military said it was investigating the incident.

(Reporting by Mohamad Torokman in Budrus, Noah Browning in Ramallah and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Louise Ireland)