By Anees Bargouthi
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – A Palestinian woman was shot dead by Israeli troops on Friday on the pretext that she had tried to attack a soldier deployed in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron (Al-Khalil), the Israeli army said in a statement.
According to the army, the woman, identified as 27-year-old Sara Hajjaj, was shot after attempting to stab an Israeli soldier near Israeli-occupied Hebron’s Al-Ibrahimi Mosque.
Hajjaj was pronounced dead shortly afterward, while no injuries were reported among Israeli troops deployed at the site, the army said.
In a separate incident on Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that another Palestinian -- a 50-year-old man whose name was not given -- had died after inhaling excessive teargas fired by Israeli troops.
The incident reportedly occurred during clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian demonstrators at the Kalandia checkpoint north of occupied East Jerusalem.
According to Palestinian figures, the latest deaths bring the number of Palestinians killed in an ongoing uptick in Israeli-Palestinian violence -- which began last October -- to 222.
The Israeli authorities, for their part, say 39 Israelis have been killed over the same period.