Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces in alleged stabbing attempt near Qalandiya
JUNE 20, 2017 5:42 P.M. (UPDATED: JUNE 20, 2017 9:32 P.M.)
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian near the Qalandiya military checkpoint in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah on Monday, with the Israeli army claiming the man attempted to carry out a stabbing attack on Israeli soldiers.
An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma'an that a short while after 5 p.m. "an assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab Israeli forces" that were operating on a road between the illegal Israeli Adam settlement and Israel's Qalandiya checkpoint that leads to occupied East Jerusalem.
"In response to the immediate threat, forces fired towards the attacker and a hit was confirmed," the spokesperson said, and acknowledged, after being asked for clarification, that the Palestinian was in fact killed.
No Israelis were injured in the incident.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified that Palestinian as 23-year-old Bahaa Imad Samir al-Harbi from the central West Bank Jerusalem-area village of al-Eizariya.
Israeli news site Ynet reported that Israeli soldiers were carrying out a "routine check" when they fatally shot al-Harbi, who was allegedly armed only with a knife.
Israeli forces have been routinely criticized for their excessive use of force and for what rights groups have termed a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death, or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of impunity for Israelis who committed the killings.
Al-Harbi was the 34th Palestinian to have been killed by Israelis since the beginning of the year, according to Ma'an documentation. In the same time, eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.
More details to come.
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