The Israeli army claimed Palestinian woman, Ghufrane Harun Warasneh was wielding a knife as she approached a soldier
Israeli forces fatally shot a Palestinian woman On Wednesday as she approached an Israeli checkpoint allegedly carrying a knife near the Al-Arroub refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli army claimed in a statement that “an assailant armed with a knife advanced toward a soldier who was conducting routine security activity on Route 60. The soldiers responded with live fire.”
The Palestinian health ministry identified her as 31-year-old Ghufrane Harun Warasneh, a former detainee who was released from an Israeli prison in April.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said Israeli forces on the scene had blocked its medics from reaching Warasnah, who was shot through the torso, for 20 minutes before allowing them to transfer her to al-Ahli hospital, in the nearby Palestinian city of Hebron, where she was pronounced dead.
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So far this year, Israeli forces have killed more than 50 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, including prominent journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.
On Friday, Israeli forces shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian near Bethlehem, after confrontations erupted between al-Khader’s residents and the soldiers who stormed the town to “secure an intersection near the illegal settlement of Efrat,” according to Israeli media.
Ghonaim is the 15th Palestinian teenager to be killed by Israeli fire this year.
Two days earlier, 16-year-old Gaith Yamin was killed by Israeli soldiers as they secured the arrival of Israeli settlers at Joseph’s Tomb, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, a site revered by Muslims and Jews and a regular flashpoint between Palestinians and Israelis.
