Israeli forces kill Palestinian teenager over alleged stabbing

Rasa - Israeli forces have shot and fatally wounded a Palestinian teenager in the northern part of the occupied West Bank over an alleged stabbing attack, police and medics say.

News ID: 431809

Date: 19 August 2017 - 23:50

RNA - Israeli police alleged in a statement that the 17-year-old, whose identity was not disclosed, approached a group of border guards at Israel's Zaatara military checkpoint, located at Tapuah Junction, south of the city of Nablus, on Saturday and made an “apparent stabbing attempt” against one of the soldiers.

It added that another guard opened fire at him and critically injured the Palestinian teen, who succumbed to his wounds shortly afterwards. According to the statement, he was from the West Bank city of Tul Karem.

Israeli medics initially announced that one of the guards also sustained light stabbing injuries but later said it appeared that the 21-year-old trooper had been wounded by shrapnel from the shots fired. Israel's public radio also said the border guard was the victim of “friendly fire.”

On July 14, three Palestinians opened fire on Israeli forces at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, killing two of them before being shot dead.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tension ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flash point Islamic site, which is also holy to Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

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