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Israeli police in East Jerusalem shoot Palestinian teen dead

March 6, 2022 at 1:16 pm

Israeli forces intervene in Palestinian protestors with rubber bullets and gas bombs in West Bank on March 02, 2022 [Mamoun Wazwaz – Anadolu Agency]

A Palestinian youth was killed by Israeli forces Sunday in occupied East Jerusalem, according to Israeli police, Anadolu Agency reported.

Israeli police released a statement saying the 19-year-old injured two police officers in an alleged knife attack in Jerusalem’s Old City.

On Twitter, Public Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev also confirmed that the Palestinian teenager was killed by Israeli police, who he said acted “quickly and resolutely” after the alleged attack.

The Palestinian state news agency Wafa, citing eyewitnesses, said the Palestinian youth was “left bleeding helplessly on the ground until he died of his critical wounds in a few minutes.”

Wafa identified the dead Palestinian as Samer Qawasmi, 19, adding that the incident took place in Bab Hutta in Jerusalem’s Old City.

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Israeli forces sealed the entrances to the Old City following the incident and set up checkpoints at the roads leading to the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in recent months for allegedly attempting to carry out stabbing or car-ramming attacks. Palestinian rights groups, meanwhile, accuse Israeli forces of deliberately killing Palestinians with no risk to their lives.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. In 1980 it annexed the entire city, in a move never recognized by the international community.