Israeli troops shoot, injure Palestinian in West Bank

Israeli security forces have shot and wounded another Palestinian in the occupied West Bank, alleging that he carried out a stabbing attack against a woman.

The Israeli army said the Palestinian man entered the Tekoa settlement near East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on Monday and stabbed the 30-year-old woman before being shot by security forces. Israeli sources said the woman was moderately wounded. No more information has so far been released on the incident.

This is the latest in a months-long heightening of tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories. On Sunday, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian after he allegedly sought to stab soldiers at a checkpoint in the south of the city of Nablus, north of the West Bank. No injuries were reported among the Israeli soldiers.

On Friday, two Palestinians were killed and several others injured by Israeli forces in al-Barij refugee camp in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Tensions have dramatically escalated since the Israeli regime’s imposition of restrictions in August last year on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Palestinians say Tel Aviv seeks to change the status quo of al-Aqsa. They are also angry with Israeli extremists who, escorted by army forces, have stepped up their raids on the sensitive site, which is Islam’s third holiest after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

Israeli forces have killed over 161 Palestinians since early October 2015.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has voiced concern over the excessive use of force and “extrajudicial killing” of Palestinians by Israeli forces. The body says that the circumstances surrounding several of the Palestinian deaths over the past weeks remain disputed.

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