The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday demanded that the UN form a committee to investigate the shooting of 18-year-old Hadel al-Hashlamon by Israeli forces in Hebron in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day.
The 18-year-old was shot at a checkpoint a at the entrance of Hebron’s central al-Shuhada street, after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier, according to the Israeli army’s official account.
She later died at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where she arrived “terribly injured, and underwent surgery upon her arrival,” the hospital spokesperson told Ma’an.
No Israeli soldiers were injured during the incident, and Israeli authorities presented no evidence of the alleged stabbing attempt.
A local activist group, Youth Against Settlements, later released photos of the incident appearing to contradict the army’s account of events.
They appear to show the girl without any knife and at some distance from the soldiers before they opened fire.
Video footage from local new agency PalMedia, meanwhile, showed the teen left bleeding on the pavement, reportedly for up to 30 minutes, before she was roughly dragged away by an Israeli soldier, with soldiers and heavily armed settlers looked on.
The PA reiterated calls for the urgent intervention of the international community to pressure Israel into halting crimes against unarmed Palestinians, as well as ending policies of killing with impunity carried out under military occupation.
Al-Hashlamon’s death came only hours after another Palestinian, 21-year-old Diyaa Abdul-Halim Talahmah, was also killed during clashes with Israeli forces Monday night, also with contradictory reports of how he died.
The Israeli army said he died when an Improvised Explosive Device he was attempting to throw at soldiers exploded prematurely, although Palestinian sources said he was shot dead.
In recent months, Israeli forces have shot a number of Palestinians, later alleging that they had attempted to carry out stabbing attacks on them, although Palestinians have questioned the allegations.
The Palestinian leadership is making efforts to bring Israeli authorities to justice in the international arena, particularly as they say there is a lack of due process in Israeli military courts and investigations.