An initial investigation into Palestinian siblings shot dead during an attempted assault on Israeli border guards at the West Bank Qalandiya crossing last week finds they were killed by civilian security guards and not Israeli forces.
As such, the Justice Ministry is not opening a probe into the officers stationed at the crossing.
Maram Abu Ismayil, 23, and her brother Ibrahim Salah Tahah, 16, arrived at the crossing and began walking towards the Border Police officers stationed at the checkpoint, just south of Ramallah, a police spokesperson said. After repeated calls by the officers for the pair to stop, one of them took out a knife and threw it at them.
Two knives and a Leatherman-style multi-tool that a Palestinian couple allegedly planned to use to attack Border Police officers at the Qalandiya border crossing on April 27, 2016. (Israel Police)
The investigation finds that a border officer followed procedure by firing into the air, but two civilian guards — contracted by the Defense Ministry and stationed at the checkpoint — fired on the assailants.
No Israelis were injured in the incident.
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