Three Palestinian teenagers were killed and a fourth critically injured yesterday as they allegedly tried to attack Israeli security forces in the West Bank.
A veiled Palestinian, described by locals as a 14-year-old girl, was shot when she allegedly tried to stab an Israeli border policeman at a checkpoint in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
Border policemen manning the checkpoint had told the girl to freeze and remove her hand from her bag. Samri said the girl then took out a knife and tried to stab the officer, who shot her.
An Israeli army vehicle evacuated her to hospital in critical condition, the spokeswoman said. The Palestinian Health Ministry gave no immediate confirmation of her age or condition.
It was the fourth attempted attack by teenagers reported yesterday as a months-long wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians rages on.
Palestinians have launched scores of knife attacks against Israelis since early October, protesting perceived violations at a disputed Jerusalem holy site and the ongoing occupation.
Many of the attackers have been lone teenagers without a known connection to a militant organisation. Palestinians have blamed ongoing oppression for the uptick in violence.
Earlier yesterday, a Palestinian minor was shot dead when he ran, knife raised in hand, toward Israeli border policemen at a checkpoint into East Jerusalem, police said.
The suspect was a 17-year-old from a village near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
Earlier, Israeli soldiers shot two other Palestinian minors dead on a northern West Bank road after one opened fire with a rifle and the other wielded a knife, a military spokeswoman said.
Both were in a crowd of Palestinian protesters, hurling stones at passing Israeli motorists west of the Palestinian city of Jenin.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said they were 15 years old.