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Photos:
Scene. Credit: Israeli police. Published by Maan News

Scene of attempted stabbing, today in West bank. Credit: "Divuchei harega" group. Published by Haaretz

Rahik Shagiya Muhammad Yousef is seen holding a knife after she is shot by Border Police officers, Tapuach checkpoint, October 20, 2016. (Israel Police Spokesperson) Published by 972Mag

The body of Hadeel al-Hashlamon, a 18-year old Palestinian woman who was shot by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron, surrounded by relatives during her funeral, September 23, 2015. (Activestills.org) Published by 972Mag
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UPDATE Oct 20, 2016

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- A video posted on social media on Thursday reportedly showed moments when a young Palestinian woman was shot to death by Israeli forces a day earlier.

Rahiq Shaji Birawi, 23, from the village of Asira al-Shamaliya in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, was killed by Israeli border police on Wednesday as she allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack at the Zaatara military checkpoint.

The video, filmed on a cell phone by a bystander, shows four Israeli border police officers shooting at a figure already lying on the ground several meters away from them.

At least ten shots can be heard in the first two seconds of the video.

Birawi became the 234th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since a wave of unrest spread across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October 2015.

The violence has been largely characterized by alleged, attempted, and actual small-scale attacks committed by Palestinians against uniformed Israeli soldiers or police, mainly using knives or similar weapons.

Rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a number of cases, denouncing what they have termed as a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of impunity for Israeli forces who have committing the killings.

Dozens of Palestinians have been shot at military checkpoints, included at least four who were shot dead at Zaatara.

Wednesday's killing came amid severe restrictions on Palestinian movement across the occupied territory over the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and tensions surrounding holy sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the high holiday season last year were a main contributor to the uptick in violence.

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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) --October 19, 2016
Israeli forces shot and killed a young Palestinian woman at the Zaatara military checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus on Wednesday after she allegedly attempted to stab Israeli border police.

The slain woman was identified by local sources as 23-year-old Rahiq Shaji Birawi from the village of Asira al-Shamaliya north of Nablus city.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement that Birawi approached Israeli border guards stationed at the Tappuah junction -- the Israeli term for the area around the checkpoint -- when they fired warning shots into the air. After she "ignored their directives and their calls for her to stop," Birawi allegedly pulled out a knife, and Israeli forces opened live fire and "neutralized" her.

Al-Samri first said that the woman "seemingly" died, and confirmed her death a short time later.

The head of Asira al-Shamaliya's local council, Nasser Jawabra, told Ma'an that Birawi "had never been affiliated to any political parties," and said that she was married to a man currently residing in the United States.

Jawabra said that Birawi’s father was detained by Israeli forces at a military checkpoint near Tulkarem as he returned home from his construction job after being notified of his daughter’s death.

Birawi became the 234th Palestinian to be killed by Israeli soldiers and settlers since a wave of violence spread across the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October 2015.

The violence has been largely characterized by alleged, attempted, and actual small-scale attacks committed by Palestinians against uniformed Israeli soldiers or police, mainly using knives or similar weapons.

Rights groups have disputed Israel's version of events in a number of cases, denouncing what they have termed as a "shoot-to-kill" policy against Palestinians who did not constitute a threat at the time of their death or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner -- amid a backdrop of impunity for Israeli forces who have committing the killings.
Dozens of the alleged attackers have been shot at military checkpoints, included at least three who were shot dead at Zaatara.

Reports from Israeli media have claimed in the past that a number of Palestinians -- particularly women -- were killed or injured at checkpoints after they intentionally "provoked" Israeli forces to shoot them in order to commit suicide, with Israeli forces admitting in some cases that no weapons were found on the alleged attackers' person after they were shot.

Wednesday's killing came amid severe restrictions on Palestinian movement across the occupied territory over the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, and tensions surrounding holy sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the high holiday season last year were a main contributor to the uptick in violence.
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Suspected assailant reportedly refused to stop and pulled out a knife at Border Police officers in West Bank junction.

by Gili Cohen and Yotam Berger for Haaretz
Oct 19, 2016 1:10 PM

A Palestinian woman was shot dead after trying to stab Border Police officers in the West Bank on Wednesday, Israeli security forces said.

According to the police, the Palestinian woman, 19, was walking toward policemen stationed at the Tapuach junction. A statement said an officer noticed her and warned the other officers, who called on her to halt and fired warning shots in the air.

When she refused to heed their calls, they shot and killed her, police added.

The Palestinian woman was from the town of Asira al-Shamaliya, near Nablus in the northern West Bank.

On Saturday, a Border Police officer was lightly wounded after he was attacked with a knife near the West Bank settlement of Har Adar. The attacker, whom authorities say was apparently a Palestinian, fled the scene.
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The police claim Rahik Shagiya Muhammad Yousef approached them at a checkpoint with a knife. A new video reveals that the officers fired 12 bullets, killing her when she no longer posed a threat.

By John Brown* for 972Mag

On Wednesday morning Israeli Border Police officers shot Rahik Shagiya Muhammad Yousef at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank. Yousef, 19, from the village Asira A-Shamaliya near Nablus, was shot after she allegedly approached the officers at Tapuach checkpoint and pulled out a knife. According to the Police Spokesperson, the officers reportedly called on Yousef to stop and fired warning shots in the air before shooting her.

Related stories
A 'wave of violence' that never actually ends By Haggai Matar | September 20, 2016
Following orders: How the IDF eliminates 'quiet' in the West Bank By Talal Jabari | August 25, 2016
When Israel's leaders incite, one soldier pays the price By Noam Rotem | July 29, 2016
A video published by Israeli news site Walla!, however, reveals that the police statement left out a key piece of the story. According to the video, four Border Police officers continue to shoot at the young woman from close range as she lies on the ground and poses no threat.

Israeli police spokesperson Luba Al-Samri distributed a photo to reporters in which Yousef is clearly seen holding a knife. As opposed to the photography, the knife could hardly been in the video. And while the video is not high quality enough to prove a thing, it certainly raises serious questions.

This is not to deny the likelihood that Yousef was looking to stab the officers, or perhaps using the attack as a means to commit suicide — a motivation for a good number of attempted attacks over the past year. But there is no doubt that such a massive use of force, when Yousef was already lying on the ground with no way to harm the officers, merits serious investigation.

Israeli police issued the following response to the video:

From our initial investigation of yesterday’s terrorist attack, the officers called on the terrorist to stop a few times, while firing warning shots in the air. The terrorist ignored these warnings, pulling out a knife just meters in front of the officers and began to move toward them. The video presents a partial picture of the event, and does not show the terrorist moving toward the officers while brandishing a knife and endangering their lives.
The police further stated that the video shows that the police ceased shooting “immediately after she was neutralized.” A closer look at the clip, however, reveals precisely the opposite. The police added that the incident was under investigation.

Not an isolated case
These kinds of incidents have become common ever since the latest wave of violence broke out. On September 21, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl marched toward the checkpoint [Hebrew] adjacent to the Israeli settlement of Alfei Menashe. When she did not respond to calls to stop, she was shot. Despite duplicitous reports [Hebrew], the girl was not holding a knife and posed no threat to the shooters. The killers were never held responsible.

In June soldiers from the IDF’s Kfir Brigade shot and killed Ansar Harsha, 25, a mother of two from the village of Qaffin, near Tulkarem. According to the IDF Spokesperson, Harsha had “attempted to carry out a stabbing attack adjacent to Einav checkpoint: no one was hurt; the terrorist was killed.”

Photos that we uncovered from the video that captured the event — the same video the IDF refuses to release — show disproportionate use of force. According to the photos Harsha had approached the reinforced army pillbox, in which soldiers are stationed well above the ground (and thus she posed them no threat). Two soldiers stepped down from the pillbox in her direction, shooting her in the upper half of her body while she stood only meters away.

On Wednesday, April 27, Maram Salah Hasan Abu Ismail, a 23-year-old mother from A-Ram in East Jerusalem, and her younger brother, Ibrahim Salah Taha, 16, from Beit Surik, were shot to death at Qalandiya checkpoint. According to the police, the two entered the area intended for vehicle crossing. The police spokesperson later reported that “police and Border Police officers stationed at Qalandiya checkpoint noticed a man and a woman walking toward the checkpoint intended for vehicles alone, when the woman’s hand was in her bag and the man’s hand was behind his back, holding onto something that raised the police’s suspicion.”

Not long after that it turned out that the police’s version was wrong, and that the shooters were private security guards. Testimonies published in May on the incident raise suspicion that at the very least, the killing of Ibrahim Salah Taha was not justified, and that he was shot a number of times without posing any threat to the guards at the checkpoint. It is likely that shooting his sister was also unnecessary. The police refuses to release the video that captured the double-killing, and placed the entire story under gag order for months, until it was recently temporarily lifted.

In February Border Police officers shot and killed Muhammad Abu Khalaf, 20, after he carried out a stabbing attack at Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Footage captured by Al Jazeera showed that police officers shot him a number of times, even after he was already lying on the ground. In August the Department of Internal Police Investigations announced that it would not even open an investigation into the incident.

On November 23, 2015, two Palestinian teenage girls, 14 and 16, stabbed a Palestinian passerby near Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda Market, lightly wounding him. A police officer who arrived on the scene shot one of the girls, then the other one, before returning to the first girl and shooting her again as she lay wounded on the ground. The 14-year-old died of her wounds.

The first incident of this kind in the latest wave took place on September 23, 2015 when Israeli soldiers shot and killed 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon at a checkpoint in Hebron. According to eyewitness testimonies, the soldiers continued to shot even after she was on the ground. The IDF refuses to release footage of the incident. An army investigation ruled that her death was unnecessary, yet the shooters were never held accountable.

*John Brown is the pseudonym of an Israeli academic and a blogger for Local Call, where this article was first published in Hebrew. Read it here.