Israeli forces fatally shoot two Palestinian women as tensions escalate across West Bank

Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinian women in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, amid an escalation of violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, in the first incident on Sunday, Israeli forces opened fire on a Palestinian woman — identified as Ghada Ibrahim Sabatien—while she was crossing a military checkpoint near the village of Husan, west of city of Bethlehem, Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.

The victim, aged in her 40s, died at a hospital in the West Bank city of Beit Jala where she was taken for treatment, after suffering massive blood loss from a torn artery, the ministry said.  

The Israeli military claimed that its troops fired warning shots into the air when the woman approached them, before they "fired towards the suspect's lower body."

The woman, a widowed mother of six, was then transferred to the Red Crescent for treatment, the Israeli military said, adding that it was investigating the incident.

In the second incident, a few hours later on Sunday, a Palestinian woman allegedly tried to carry out a stabbing attack on an Israeli border police officer in the city of al-Khalil, also known as Hebron. She was shot and killed by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the Palestinian woman "arrived at one of the checkpoints where the border police ... are stationed and stabbed” one of them, who was lightly wounded.

The statement added that the Palestinian woman was then “neutralized" by Israeli forces.

AFP cited an Israeli police spokesman as saying that the alleged assailant was "not alive."

The latest development came after Israeli occupation forces launched a new wave of brutal raids and arrests against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin earlier the same day, following a shooting operation by a young Palestinian in a crowded entertainment area of Tel Aviv.

Israel steps up raids on Jenin after 'heroic' Palestinian operation

Israeli occupation forces have launched a new wave of brutal raids and arrests against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

On Thursday evening, a Palestinian youth, identified as Ra’ad Fathi Hazem, entered a pub on a crowded main street of Tel Aviv and began shooting, killing three Israelis and wounding more than a dozen others.

The 28-year-old, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, was killed by Israeli forces in a pre-dawn firefight near a mosque on the first Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

Palestinian resistance groups hailed the “heroic operation” as a “natural and legitimate response to the escalation of the occupation’s crimes.”

Palestinians have ramped up retaliatory attacks against Israeli forces in recent weeks, carrying out a series of operations that have killed at least 11 Israelis since March 22. 

Israeli forces kill one Palestinian, injure 13 in Jenin refugee camp

The Israeli regime’s military forces have shot dead a young Palestinian in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin who they blame for the recent killing of Israeli soldiers in Tel Aviv, Palestinian authorities said.

Over the same period, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed, including the resistance fighters that carried out the attacks.

The occupying regime has since the start of Ramadan scaled up its crackdown on Palestinians who gather for Iftar, a meal served at the end of the fasting day during the holy month. Israel has also deployed a large number of its forces to disperse the worshipers.

The Israeli violence, repeated on a daily basis, has led to fierce clashes between Israelis and Palestinians across the occupied territories.

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