Israeli forces kill Palestinian woman in the West Bank
Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian woman on Sunday near Bethlehem, the Palestinian health ministry said, as tensions heighten in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The ministry said the woman, identified as Ghada Ibrahim al-Aridi, a 47-year-old widowed mother of six from Husan village, west of Bethlehem, died in a hospital in the West Bank city of Beit Jala after suffering massive blood loss from a torn artery.
The Israeli army said soldiers fired warning shots into the air when the woman approached them near the town of Husan, before they "fired towards the suspect's lower body".
No weapon was found on her person, according to Haaretz. The army said it was investigating the incident.
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A confrontation between Israeli forces and Palestinians present at the scene erupted following the shooting, according to Palestinian media.
The incident comes after a tense three-week period in which 14 Israelis have been killed in shooting and stabbing attacks carried out by Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and inside Israel.
At least 11 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the same period in the West Bank, including one shot by a settler.
On Thursday, a resident of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank opened fire at a bar in Tel Aviv, killing three Israelis.
On Sunday morning, the Israeli army raided Jenin for the second night in a row.
At least 10 people were wounded in clashes in Jenin, Jericho, and Tulkarem, the Palestinian health ministry said.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club said 24 Palestinians have been arrested in various West Bank cities.
One Palestinian, identified as Ahmad al-Saadi, 23, was killed in a gunfight between Palestinian fighters and Israeli forces at the Jenin refugee camp on Saturday.
Al-Quds Brigades (Saraya al-Quds), the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, said he was a commander in its Jenin unit.
At least 13 more Palestinians sustained bullet wounds, including a 19-year-old woman, during the raid.
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