Palestinians gather for funeral of shot woman as violence continues

Thousands of people gathered on Saturday for the funeral of a Palestinian woman shot dead by Israeli forces a day earlier.

Mahdiyya Hammad, 38, was shot dead in her car at a checkpoint near Silwad, a small West Bank town some 12 kilometres north-east of Ramallah.

Israeli security forces said Hammad was shot after she attempted to attack soldiers by driving her car at them.

However, sources told Palestinian news site Maan that Hammad had been driving at normal speed some 30 metres from the checkpoint when she was shot.

After Hammad’s funeral on Saturday brief clashes broke out between Israeli security forces and Palestinians, with tear gas used to disperse the crowds.

Reports of clashes in Silwad came after another day of violence in the West Bank which saw two Palestinians shot after alleged attempted attacks.

An Israeli soldier was wounded, reportedly with a broken leg, after a 56-year-old Palestinian man, named locally as Maher al-Naimi, allegedly drove his car into him.

Naimi was shot and critically injured following the incident south of the West Bank city of Nablus.

Earlier, a 27-year-old Palestinian man was shot dead after pulling out a knife in Jerusalem. Police said they had “spotted a man who aroused their suspicions and approached him to check”.

The man, named as Mussab Mahmoud al-Razali, was shot dead after he pulled out a knife and refused to drop it when commanded to by police.

His uncle later said the man had severe learning difficulties and was a student at the Nur Special Needs School.