Palestinian witness disputes Israel account of woman’s death

A Palestinian witness on Wednesday disputed the Israeli army’s account of a fatal shooting in the West Bank Tuesday, an incident in which the military said a Palestinian woman was shot as she attempted to stab a soldier at a checkpoint.

The woman, 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon, was taken to an Israeli hospital in critical condition on Tuesday and her father, Salah al-Hashlamon, said she later died of her wounds. No Israeli soldiers were hurt in the incident, in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The IDF said in a statement Wednesday that “the perpetrator approached the checkpoint and the metal detector was activated, alerting the troops’ suspicion. Forces at the scene asked the perpetrator to stop, at which point she approached the forces, disregarding the instructions and raising further suspicion.”

The witness, Fawaz Abu Eisheh, said he was at the checkpoint on his way to work at the Hebron municipality and heard the troops ordering the woman to stop.

“Soldiers were shouting at a veiled girl, while aiming their weapons at her and asking her in Hebrew to step back,” Abu Eisheh said, adding that he thought there might be a language barrier and offered to translate.

He said he told the woman to walk back toward the exit area of the checkpoint and that she heard him and began walking in that direction.

“While she was walking there, one of the soldiers stopped her and shot toward the floor, the girl stopped like a needle, she didn’t move,” he said. Several other soldiers then surrounded her, and everyone was shouting, he added.

Abu Eish said he asked the soldiers to wait while he spoke with her.

“Forces called for her to halt, which she ignored, and she continued moving while also pulling out a knife,” the IDF said. “At this point, forces fired at the ground, then at her lower extremities in attempts to stop her advancement. The perpetrator continued and at this point, recognizing a clear and present danger to their safety, the forces fired towards her.”

The eyewitness, Abu Eisheh, told The Associated Press Wednesday, after the woman’s funeral, however, that “In the middle of all this shouting, one of the soldiers shot directly at her left leg, she fell down and didn’t move.”

“After 10 to 15 seconds later, he shot another bullet at her right leg, after 10 seconds, he shot four, five bullets at her abdomen and chest area, and then after five, ten seconds he shot another bullet from one meter far,” he said.

Her father said she was innocent and had been killed “in cold blood” by multiple shots.

The IDF rebuffed claims published by the Middle East Eye that soldiers prevented medical personnel from treating the wounded woman for “at least half an hour,” saying “treatment began immediately upon the medical team’s arrival to the checkpoint.”

“The treatment was discontinued for a period of two minutes in order to ensure that the perpetrator wasn’t armed with explosives, after which the medical team continued the treatment.”

Palestinian stabbing attacks against soldiers in the West Bank are fairly common. The latest violence comes amid rising tensions surrounding Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. The site, holy to both Jews and Muslims, has been a flashpoint for violence in recent days.

Clashes broke out Wednesday between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces in Hebron following al-Hashlamon’s funeral.

Around 50 youths threw stones at soldiers, who responded with stun grenades and tear gas in the flashpoint city, where some 500 Israeli settlers live under heavy guard among Palestinians.

Several thousand people joined the funeral procession, carrying photos of her with her face completely veiled, as well as Palestinian flags.

Her death followed that of another Palestinian who was killed in a village outside Hebron by an explosive device he intended to toss at a military vehicle, the army said. Residents provided a similar account. By contrast, Palestinian security officials said the man, whom they identified as Dia al-Talahmeh, 21, was shot dead by Israeli troops.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions boiled over last week on the eve of the Jewish new year holiday of Rosh Hashanah when Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and, in clashes with police that would continue for days, threw rocks and firecrackers at officers. Israeli police said they found pipe bombs at the site, and said the Palestinians had been planning attacks.

On Rosh Hashanah, an Israeli man was killed in Jerusalem when Palestinians pelted his car with rocks.

Several rockets from the Gaza Strip have also been fired recently, and Israel has deployed its Iron Dome rocket defense battery in towns near the Hamas-controlled territory.