Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians whom soldiers said were attempting to attack Israelis with knives at a West Bank checkpoint on Wednesday.
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The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the victims as Maram Abu Ismail, 23, and her 16-year-old brother, Ibrahim Taha.
Alaa Soboh, a Palestinian bus driver who said he witnessed the incident, told Reuters the pair appeared to be unfamiliar with crossing procedures.
They said the woman was holding a knife and both she and the man walked rapidly towards police and security guards in a vehicles-only lane at the Qalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem.
Eyewitnesses said the soldiers fired a barrage of bullets on the two Palestinians, and left them bleeding on the ground, in addition to preventing Palestinian medics from even approaching them, after declaring the area a closed military zone.
According to al-Qiswani, Israeli police assaulted the mosque’s Palestinian guards when they attempted to prevent the extremists from performing their rituals.
Police say they found two knives on the boy’s body.
A spokesperson for Palestinian Red Crescent Society told Mondoweiss two ambulances were dispatched to transport the Palestinians, one on the Jerusalem side of the checkpoint and one on the West Bank side.
Since October 1, increased tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel have boiled over into violence.
Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, Israeli authorities say.
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More than half a million Jewish Israelis already live in more than 150 Jewish-only settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while Israeli military forces have erected several dozen checkpoints impeding Palestinians’ ability to move freely.
