Israeli Army Shoots 13-Year-Old Palestinian Girl at Checkpoint

Israeli troops shot an unarmed 13-year-old Palestinian girl at an occupation checkpoint in the West Bank on Wednesday. Israel claims she continued to walk toward the checkpoint after soldiers ordered her to stop.

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The girl, identified as Baraa Ramadan Issawi, was shot in her legs, according to Israeli media. Israeli media first reported that soldiers had stopped a “terror attack” and that the girl had a knife and was planning stabbing attack, Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported.

However, a statement by the Israeli Defense Ministry denied those initial reports and said the girl had no weapon on her.

The news comes a day after Kamel Hameid, mayor of Hebron, which has seen the bulk of violence throughout the past year, said Israeli troops have been inciting children to carry knifes.

“Our reports indicate that Israeli forces provoke Palestinian children and incite them to carry knifes. Israeli soldiers keep asking Palestinian children at checkpoints, ‘Where are your knifes? Why aren’t you carrying knifes?’” Kamel Hameid said at a press conference, according to Ma’an.

His comments came after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, one of them a teenager, from the city of Hebron on Monday for "arousing suspicion" as they approached an Israeli occupation checkpoint. The Israeli army claimed it was an attempted stabbing attack.

Unrest kicked off in the Palestinian occupied territories and Israel last October after Israel responded to peaceful protests against the occupation with a major crackdown, using live ammunition and rubber bullets against demonstrators.

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The unrest included a wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks targeting occupation checkpoints across the West Bank. At least 230 Palestinians and 35 Israelis have been killed.

The Palestinian street attacks have largely waned in recent months, however, a new wave of attacks have hit the territories in recent days.

Israel has been accused by Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups of using excessive force and killing people who posed no threat.

“Extrajudicial street killings are the direct consequence of inflammatory remarks made by Israeli ministers and officials, augmented by the general public atmosphere of dehumanization,” the Israel-based human rights group B’Tselem group has said.

Palestinian leaders, as well as the United Nations, have said the recent unrest in Palestine and Israel is the result of the Palestinian population’s desperation and lack of hope for any solution to the decades-long conflict amid continued Israeli occupation and settlement expansion.