Palestinian Woman Shot Dead; Israelis Say She Was Armed

Israeli police said a Palestinian woman was shot after approaching border police with a knife.

(CNN)- Israeli police said they fatally shot a knife-wielding Palestinian woman at a border checkpoint Sunday, but a Palestinian witness disputed that she was armed, saying she was a "terrified" schoolgirl.

The woman aroused the suspicion of border police at a checkpoint beside the Cave of the Patriarchs (known to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque) in the West Bank city of Hebron, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

"They asked her to identify herself and she suddenly took out a knife, started to approach them while shouting at them. The police fired accurately and neutralized her," he said. "There are no injuries to the Border Police force."

A Hebron resident, who asked not to be identified, told CNN he was next in line at the checkpoint -- some 4 meters away -- when the incident occurred.

"There were seven or eight soldiers around her. The soldiers checked her belongings in a school bag. She looked like she was around 14 years old," he said.

"She went through a metal detector. In the school bag they found nothing and asked her, 'Where's the knife?' She said, 'I don't have a knife.' Then they fired between her legs. She was terrified and moved back half a meter or a meter.

"She raised her arms in the air saying 'I don't have a knife.' Then they shot eight to 10 bullets, but I don't know exactly who was shooting. Then she fell on the ground."

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA also described the woman as a schoolgirl, quoting witnesses as saying Israeli soldiers had prevented medics from reaching her.

Issa Amer, director of Youth Against Settlements, a Palestinian nonprofit that monitors and documents settler violence and military activity in Hebron, said the group had no information on this specific incident, but "the woman had to go through two metal detectors and revolving doors. This means that her belongings were checked. Also, we call on the military to release video of the incident because there are several CCTV surveillance cameras that record everything in that area."