Teenage girl shot by Israeli forces in Meto Dovan dies

A Palestinian teenage girl who was shot by Israeli forces on Thursday after an alleged stabbing attack outside a Jewish-only settlement in the occupied West Bank has died, a hospital official said on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Hadera-based Hillel Yaffe medical centre, where 15-year-old Nouf Iqab Abd el-Jabber Enfeat was being treated, told Al Jazeera that the teen “was critically injured when she came in and she died from her wounds this morning”.

The incident took place at the entrance of the Meto Dovan settlement in the northern occupied West Bank. A soldier was “lightly injured”, an Israeli army spokesperson told Al Jazeera by phone.

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Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), a human rights group, told Al Jazeera it had opened an investigation into Enfeat’s case, adding that at least nine Palestinian children, including Enfeat, have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers in 2017.

Earlier this week, Israeli forces opened fire and injured 16-year-old Khaled Ghamri during a protest on the border of southern Israel and the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to Arabic-language news outlets.

Ghamri, who was struck in the stomach, is currently hospitalised and in critical condition, according to DCIP.

A day before US President Donald Trump met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli forces shot dead 15-year-old Raed Ahmad Rdaydeh during an alleged stabbing attempt at a checkpoint near Bethlehem.

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DCIP said 2016 was the deadliest year in a decade for Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank.

The organisation documented the killing of at least 32 Palestinian children by Israeli forces and settlement guards. Israel says that at least 24 of those took place during attacks or attempted attacks, but DCIP says its investigations cast doubt on those claims.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements, which are considered illegal under international law, in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.