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Update Young Woman Dies of Wounds Sustained at an Israeli Checkpoint

by IMEMC Staff - IMEMC News & Agencies

Hadeel Hashlamoun, 18, was critically injured and later died of her wounds on Tuesday afternoon, when soldiers shot her at an Israeli military checkpoint in Al Shohada Street in Hebron old city.

Media sources in Hebron said Hadeel was injury in her abdomen, and that the soldiers left her bleeding onto the ground for nearly 30 minutes, and prevented Palestinian medics from approach her.

The Israeli army claims the young woman attempted to stab a soldier. A Photo by the Palestine News Agency – WAFA shows Hadeel just before being shoot by the Israeli soldiers with nothing in her hands.

The Israeli military initially said the woman was shot in her legs, and later said she is in a critical condition.

she was moved to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem where she died of her wounds. According to her family Hadeel was a first-year student at the Hebron University.

The Palestinian government issued a statement on Tuesday condemning the killing of Hadeel and demanded and international and independent investigation into the incident.

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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint in Hebron on Tuesday morning after she allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack, Israel's army said, although images later appeared to contradict the army's official account.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the shooting took place at around 8 a.m., when the woman approached the checkpoint in an attempt to "stab" a soldier, with Israeli forces responding by firing "toward the perpetrator."

The spokeswoman said a hit was confirmed, and the woman was treated on site before she was taken to hospital.

Witnesses identified the woman as 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon. She was reportedly taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in critical condition.

No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, and the Israeli army did not release photographs of a knife, as they have done on several other recent occasions.

The army spokeswoman said that the attack had been "thwarted."

A local activist group Youth Against Settlements later released what it said were photos of the incident, appearing to show Israeli soldiers aiming their weapons at the woman, as first she faced them and afterward turned away from them.

Another photo appeared to show the woman slumped on the street, after she was shot and wounded.

Video footage from Palestinian news agency PalMedia appeared to show the woman left bleeding on the pavement, reportedly for up to 30 minutes before she received treatment.

The footage shows the woman being dragged out of camera frame, while soldiers and heavily armed settlers look on.

Tensions have soared across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent days following fierce clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City last week.

They are expected to rise further over Jewish and Muslim religious holidays through the week.

In recent months, a number of Palestinians have been shot and injured by Israeli soldiers who alleged they attempted to carry out stabbing attacks, although Palestinians have questioned the allegations.

Adnan Dmeiri, the chief spokesperson for the PA security forces, said last month that Israel had provided no evidence that a string of Palestinians shot by Israeli soldiers -- in two cases fatally -- had attempted to carry out the stabbings.

Dmeiri also questioned the fact that in each case the Israeli army or police force investigated its own soldiers or officers, "without the interference of any other party."

He said that the investigations portrayed the Israeli soldiers and officers as "heroes."

Since the beginning of 2015 Israeli forces have injured an average of 40 Palestinians a week, and killed a total of at least 24, according to UN figures.