BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian boy after he attempted to carry out a stabbing attack at a military checkpoint outside the blockaded village of al-Zawiya in Salfit district on Wednesday morning.
Al-Zawiya in the northern West Bank was placed under military blockade late on Tuesday after it is believed one of its residents carried out a stabbing attack near Tel Aviv.
On Wednesday morning, Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that an “assailant armed with a knife” approached a military checkpoint on the outskirts of al-Zawiya intending to stab soldiers there.
She said that Israeli forces “thwarted” the attack, shooting the Palestinian dead. No Israelis were injured during the incident.
Locals said that Israeli soldiers shot and wounded a second Palestinian during the deadly encounter, although the army spokesperson had no information about a second Palestinian being shot during the incident.
Local official Naim Shqeir told Ma’an that both Palestinians were “left bleeding” when Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances were prevented from accessing them.
Shqeir said that Israeli soldiers also assaulted a vendor selling vegetables in a pickup truck who was travelling in the area.
The boy was identified 16-year-old Ahmad Yousef Amer , and it later emerged he had written a will before his death, saying goodbye to his parents and asking them for forgiveness. He also told them of a debt of 60 shekels he owed his school friends.
The village of al-Zawiya in the northern West Bank was placed under military blockade late on Tuesday after Israel alleges one of its residents carried out a stabbing attack near Petah Tikva, around seven miles east of Tel Aviv.
The 17-year-old, identified as Abd Al-Rahman Radad , was shot dead after wounding an Israeli man. However, the exact circumstances of the incident remained unclear, with early reports suggesting it may have been a brawl between the Israeli and Palestinian as opposed to an attack.
Radad was one of four Palestinians shot dead on Tuesday after a series of attacks left an American tourist dead and at least 12 Israelis wounded.
The violence carried into Wednesday, with another two Palestinians shot dead outside Jerusalem’s Old City in the morning after they allegedly carried out a shooting that left a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship in critical condition.
