Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian woman and her teenage brother on Wednesday, saying they were ‘armed with knives and tried to carry out an attack at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank’.

Palestinian authorities identified the two dead as Maram Abu Ismail, 23, and her 16-year-old brother, Ibrahim Taha, and said they had been en route to Jerusalem for a medical appointment.

The siblings entered the vehicles-only lane by accident and their killing was a "brutal daylight crime" by Israel, the Palestinian Information Ministry said in a statement.

Israel police, who have been on high alert during the current Jewish Passover holiday week, issued a photograph of three knives on the ground which they said the two had been carrying.
Alaa Soboh, a Palestinian bus driver who said he witnessed the incident, told Reuters the pair appeared to be unfamiliar with crossing procedures and were swiftly challenged at the checkpoint.

"As soon as the two crossed, (Israeli forces) started screaming 'Go back, go back', and then they began shooting. The first one they shot was the girl ... the boy tried to go backward, when they fired seven bullets at him," Soboh said.

In the last half year, Palestinian attacks have killed 28 Israelis and two visiting U.S. citizens. Israeli forces have killed at least 193 Palestinians. Many others were shot dead in clashes and protests.

Factors behind the bloodshed that began in October include Palestinian bitterness over stalled statehood negotiations and the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

PHOTO CAPTION

Israeli security forces gather around the body of a Palestinian after he was shot dead by Israeli troops at Qalandia checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah April 27, 2016.

Source: Reuters