Israeli forces shoot, injure Palestinian teen in central West Bank

Israeli military forces have shot and injured a Palestinian teenager and arrested another as the pair allegedly sought to stab an Israeli trooper at a checkpoint in the central part of the occupied West Bank.

An Israeli army spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two 14-year-old female Palestinians approached Israeli soldiers at the checkpoint in the village of Beit Ur al-Tahta in an alleged bid to attack them.

Israeli soldiers then opened fire towards the girls, leaving one of them injured. The second teenager reportedly tried to leave the scene, but was later apprehended without being fired on.

Palestinian factions slam siblings ‘execution’

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority and the resistance movement Hamas have strongly condemned the recent “execution” of two Palestinian siblings by Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Palestinian Authority spokesman Yousef Mahmoud denounced the silence of the international community over the death of Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail and her younger brother Ibrahim at the hands of Israeli forces.

“There is nothing that can justify the crime that has been committed against a pregnant mother and her brother,” Yousef said, adding that the Tel Aviv regime has a “mafia-like mentality.”

Senior Hamas official Abdul Rahman Shadid also called on Palestinians to “exact a revenge for the crime at Qalandiya checkpoint, and put an end to Israel’s shedding of Palestinian blood.”

Israeli sources claim that troopers gunned down the Palestinian siblings on Wednesday after they ignored calls to stop and Maram threw a knife at a policeman guarding the checkpoint. No Israelis were injured in the incident.

Witnesses have however disputed the allegations, saying  that Israeli forces fired at least 15 rounds of bullets at the woman during the incident.

Tensions have heightened in the occupied territories since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

More than 210 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

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