Palestinian Teen Kills 13-Year-Old Israeli Girl in Hebron-area Settlement

Hallel Yafa, 13. (Photo: via Social Media)

A Palestinian teenager was killed on Thursday morning in the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, in the southern occupied West Bank after carrying out an attack against a 13-year-old Israeli girl. The girl later died from her wounds.

Israeli guards in the settlement shot the attacker, killing him, and one member of the civilian armed response team was wounded, a military spokesman and a settler leader said.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that a “terrorist infiltrated” the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of the city of Hebron, where he attacked Hallel Yafa Ariel, in her bedroom.

17-year-old Muhammad Nasser Tarayra, from the village of Bani Naim was identified as the killer, by the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

A statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office on Thursday afternoon announced that the decision had been made to “cordon off” Tarayra’s hometown Bani Naim, and that work permits of Tarayra’s family members would be revoked. The statement added that procedures to demolish Tarayra’s family’s home were already under way.

Israel’s punitive policies against Palestinian communities in the wake of attacks have been repeatedly condemned by human rights groups, who point out that such punitive measures constitute “collective punishment” and “court-sanctioned revenge” in clear violation of international law.

More than 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis and 31 Israelis killed by Palestinians since a wave of unrest first swept across the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel in October.

Rights groups have denounced what they have termed a “shoot-to-kill” policy by the Israeli forces, which they say has led to the death of numerous Palestinians who did not constitute a threat or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner.

(Huffpost, MA’AN, PC)

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