Two Palestinians killed after ‘stabbing’ Israeli soldier

Eyewitnesses refuted the military allegations.

Weeks before, two 16-year-old Palestinians were shot dead at the checkpoint, one of whom was run over and shot by prominent Israeli settler Gershon Mesika after he said she was attempting to carry out an attack.

A Ma’an reporter identified the Palestinians as Muhammad Rafiq Hussien Sabana, 17, and Noor al-Deen Muhammad Abdul-Qadir Sabana, 23.

In a statement, the army said “an initial inquiry suggests an additional soldier was injured as a result of the fire directed toward the attackers”.

Israeli soldiers shot dead two Palestinians who had stabbed a soldier Sunday at a West Bank checkpoint, the military said.

Early Sunday morning a soldier, 21, was stabbed in the back near Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station, the Israel Defense Forces said. As security forces approached the auto, the woman in the driver’s seat threw a knife at the officers and attempted to escape.

According to the Israel Police, the terrorist, 30, was held by a nearby security guard after the attack until police officers arrived at the scene.

The bloodshed is the latest in three months of unrelenting Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Police said they used anti-riot measures to disperse the demonstrators after some began throwing rocks.

The surge in violence since October has been fueled by Palestinians’ frustration over Israel’s 48-year occupation of land they seek for an independent state and the expansion of settlements in those territories which were captured by Israel in 1967.

More than 120 Palestinians have died during this period, some during clashes with Israeli security forces, while others were gunned down after allegedly trying to commit attacks against Israelis.

Tensions have dramatically escalated since the Israeli regime’s imposition of restrictions in August on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem). The site, Islam’s holiest outside Saudi Arabia, is also revered by many Jews as a vestige of their biblical temples.