(JTA) — Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians whom soldiers said were attempting to attack Israelis with knives at a West Bank checkpoint on Wednesday.
The Palestinian news agency Maan identified one of the fatalities as a 24-year-old woman named Maram Salih Hassan Abu Ismail. She and a male approached border police officers at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah, Israeli police spokesperson Luba al-Samri said.
Maan offered no details about the male fatality, who was described as a youth. Israel’s Army Radio described him as a man. No Israelis were injured in the incident.
Officers ordered both Palestinians to halt several times, but the woman threw a knife at an officer, prompting police to open fire, killing the woman immediately, Israeli police said. The other fatality’s death was confirmed shortly after. According to Army Radio, troops found two knives on his dead body.
Thirty Israelis have been killed in a surge of Palestinian attacks since September. Approximately 200 Palestinians have died in that time, many of them while carrying out or attempting to carry out attacks or in riots.
The number of terrorist attacks carried out in Israeli-controlled areas in March decreased by 26 percent over February, making last month’s tally of 123 incidents the lowest recorded since July, Israel’s security agency, Shin Bet, said earlier this month.
