Two Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in occupied Hebron

A 21-year-old Palestinian youth died during an Israeli army incursion in an Israeli-occupied area in the southern West Bank before dawn Tuesday.

In another incident, Israeli soldiers shot and injured a Palestinian woman at a checkpoint in Hebron on Tuesday morning. She later died of her injuries.

Both incidents occurred in the Hebron area with tensions running high ahead of the Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha holidays and after three days of clashes rocked Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound last week.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the Palestinian man was killed by an explosive device he intended to toss at a military vehicle. Residents provided a similar account.

However, Palestinian security officials, who named the 21-year-old as Dia al-Talahmeh, said that he was shot dead by Israeli troops.

Sources in the Red Crescent told al-Araby al-Jadeed that the Israeli forces prevented paramedics from entering the area, leaving Talahmeh to bleed for hours.

Separately Tuesday morning, Israeli troops shot and killed an 18-year old Palestinian woman at a checkpoint near the centre of Hebron, witnesses said.

The teenager, identified as 18-year-old Hadeel al-Hashlamon, was shot three times by Israeli soldiers.

The Israeli military said she had attempted to stab a soldier.

According to Maan news, a local activist group Youth Against Settlements later released what it said were photos of the incident, appearing to show Israeli soldiers aiming their weapons at the woman, as first she faced them and afterward turned away from them.

Another photo appeared to show the woman slumped on the street, after she was shot and wounded.

Video footage from Palestinian news agency PalMedia showed Hashlamon left bleeding on the pavement, reportedly for up to 30 minutes before she received treatment.

The footage shows the woman being dragged out of camera frame, while soldiers and heavily armed settlers look on.

High tensions

A string of incidents between the army and Palestinians in the Hebron area had also occurred during the day on Monday, residents said.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, ahead of the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday which begins at sundown on Tuesday.

The Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday begins Wednesday evening and continues until Sunday.

Israel has deployed thousands of police in Jerusalem and is closing it off from the West Bank until midnight on Wednesday, preventing residents from entering or leaving.

Late on Monday, the Israeli police said 21 Palestinians from Jerusalem were arrested for "disturbing the peace".

Meanwhile, an Israeli occupation court in Jerusalem handed out prison sentences to four Palestinian youths, after convicting them for throwing stones and attacking Jewish settlements near their village.

These are the first sentences of their kind after the occupation authorities passed laws imposing harsh punishment on Palestinian stone throwers.