Palestinian woman shot dead in Hebron over alleged 'stabbing attack'
A Palestinian woman was shot dead on Sunday by Israeli troops in Hebron after allegedly stabbing an Israeli officer, Israeli authorities said on Sunday. The Israeli officer was "lightly wounded" in the suspected attack.
The stabbing allegedly took place near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, an important religious site in which Muslims and Jews used to practice their faith in a shared space. But in 1994, an Israeli settler killed 29 Palestinians performing Ramadan prayers, in what came to be known as the "Cave of Patriarchs massacre".
The religious site was thereafter split in half, with separate entrances for Jewish and Muslim believers and guarded by Israeli troops.
Hebron, called al-Khalil in Arabic, is home to 200,000 Palestinians and 800 extremist Jewish settlers who have occupied the city since Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967.
The Hebron killing comes hours after the death of Ghada Ibrahim Ali Sabateen, another Palestinian woman, shot by Israeli troops near Bethlehem because she acted in a "suspicious" manner.
Footage shared online showed the woman had raised her arms as she attempted to flee while Israeli forces opened fire at her.
Sabateen was a widower and leaves behind six children, who have been orphaned by her killing.
Rights groups have repeatedly slammed Israeli forces for showing "appalling disregard for human life" by using "reckless and unlawful lethal force" against Palestinians.
Amnesty International has repeatedly urged an end to the "worrying rise in unlawful killings by Israeli forces, fostered by a culture of impunity".