Jerusalem: A 19-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli forces on Sunday morning after he allegedly stabbed two Israeli officers in the Old City in occupied East Jerusalem, the Shehab News Agency reported.
According to the statement by the Israeli police, Kareem Jamal al-Qawasmi, approached two policemen at the Bab Hutta, one of the gates to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and took out a knife and stabbed one of them.
The assailant was shot and later pronounced dead on the scene by medics. It indicated that two policemen were slightly injured, one from the stabbing and the other during the police shooting.
A video circulating on social media shows the young boy lying on the ground after being shot, before being trampled on by an Israeli officer apparently trying to handcuff him. The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified, Al Jazeera reported.
Israeli settler attacks have been escalating – both in frequency and ferocity – since 2014. However, residents and observers say that over the past few months, and particularly since the recent Palestinian protests since mid-April 2021, the Israeli army has been using settlers as a tool to further repress Palestinians.
In 2021, Israeli settlers injured at least 170 Palestinians and killed five, according to the United Nation.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, which Israel also seized in that war. Israel claims that the entire city of Jerusalem is its indivisible capital.
More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Israel took control of the West Bank in 1967 and established settlements on it, which are considered in violation of international law.
