Israeli army kills Palestinian woman in West Bank after alleged attack

RAMALLAH: A Palestinian woman was killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank on Wednesday, with the army claiming that the woman tried to ram soldiers with a car.

The Israeli army said "an assailant arrived in her car and attempted to ram into a number of IDF soldiers" near Hizma, south of Ramallah, before she "exited her vehicle with a knife drawn." "The soldiers responded with fire towards the assailant and neutralised her," it said.

The Palestinian health ministry said the woman died of her wounds. "The Palestinian civil liaison informed the health ministry of the death of a woman shot by (Israeli forces) in Hizma," it said in a statement, citing the organisation that coordinates with Israel on military and civilian issues concerning the occupied West Bank.

Official Palestinian news website Wafa identified the woman as Mai Afana, 29, from the town of Abu Dis, which is east of Jerusalem. Her family rejected claims she had launched an attack.

"According to the information we have, Mai took this road by mistake, and did not attempt to carry out an attack as claimed by the occupation (Israeli forces)," her uncle Hani Afana told AFP. "Mai had recently graduated from a Jordanian university, had a four-year-old daughter, and had no problems," he said, adding he wanted the circumstances of her death to be investigated.

The incident came amid fresh tensions between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel carried out air strikes early Wednesday targeting what it described as Hamas military compounds in the Gaza Strip after people in the Palestinian territory launched incendiary balloons at southern Israel.