TULKAREM, June 2, 2016 (WAFA) – Israeli forces Thursday shot dead a Palestinian woman following an alleged stabbing attempt at the Innab (Einav) checkpoint, east of Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.
Israeli media reported Israeli forces shot a Palestinian woman after she allegedly attempted to stab a soldier near the Anabta town, east of Tulkarem.
Israeli forces reportedly “responded to the immediate threat,” by shooting the woman, killing her. No Israeli soldiers were injured though in the alleged attack.
Health Ministry said in a press statement that forces prevented Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics from accessing the scene.
Over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis have been killed since the beginning of unrest across the occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel in October.
Israeli has been criticized for its reflexive use of lethal force and “extrajudicial killings” when Palestinian alleged attackers no longer pose an immediate threat. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that circumstances surrounding such killings over the past months remain disputed.
Various international, Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations have slammed Israel’s policy of “extrajudicial killings” against Palestinians.
Video footages for similar alleged attacks appear to disapprove Israeli military claims, showing alleged Palestinian attackers did not even attempt to carry out any attacks. Some footages showed Israeli forces manipulating the crime scene following such killings.
In the case of Abdul-Fattah al-Sharif, killed by Israeli forces following an alleged stabbing attempt in Hebron last March, a new video footage surfaced showing a knife being kicked by an Israeli ambulance driver to the direction of al-Sharif.
Another video footage captured by Imad Abu Shamsiyyeh, a Palestinian human rights volunteers with B’Tselem, show the moment an Israeli soldier stepped forward and shot in the head at point-blank range in plain view of a medical team al-Sharif, who had already been shot and left motionless on the ground.
The footage sparked a barrage of international and Palestinian condemnations, with UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov slamming it as “extrajudicial killing” and “a gruesome, immoral and unjust act that can only fuel violence and escalate an already volatile situation.”
K.F.
