Checkpoint guards shoot knife-carrying Palestinian woman

Israeli security guards the Qalandiya checkpoint north of Jerusalem shot a Palestinian woman in the leg Tuesday after she charged at them and ignored calls to stop, police said.

A police statement said a Palestinian woman, roughly 18 years old from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Aqab, approached the checkpoint and walked into the inspection area for cars. She then ran at security guards “who told her to stop multiple times,”

When the woman ignored their warning, the guards shot at her legs, the statement said. The woman was lightly injured and Magen David Adom paramedics treated her at the scene.

A police bomb disposal expert was called in to check the woman’s bag, and found a knife inside.

After the incident, rioting broke out at the site, a key crossing between Jerusalem and Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority. Police responded with riot-control munitions.

Israeli police shoot, injure Palestinian woman at Qalandiya checkpoint https://t.co/MHu2XFts0T pic.twitter.com/wmuSRWLyt2

— Ma'an News Agency (@MaanNewsAgency) July 26, 2016

The Qalandiya crossing has two approach lanes, one for pedestrians and the other for vehicles.

In April, a Palestinian brother and sister were shot dead by civilian security guards when they approached through the vehicular lane and didn’t heed calls to halt. The guards later said they feared the siblings were planning a stabbing attack.

Police suspect that the guards were wrong to shoot the Palestinians — a woman and her teenage brother — at the crossing, although at the time police said the woman had thrown a knife at security forces and that her brother was carrying two blades.

Defense officials have pointed to a trend among some young Palestinian women who, often due to personal problems, have in recent months attempted to commit suicide by staging knife attacks against soldiers and police with the expectation that they will be shot.

Since October, 35 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed in a spate of car-ramming, stabbing, shooting, and bombing attacks. Some 215 Palestinians have also been killed, most of them while attempting attacks, according to Israel. Others were killed in clashes with security forces.

Agencies contributed to this report.