16-year-old Palestinian attempts stabbing in West Bank, is shot

A 16-year-old Palestinian attempted to carry out a stabbing attack near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank Sunday before she was shot, Israeli and Palestinian authorities said.

Palestinian security sources named her as 16-year-old Hebron resident Lama al-Bakri.

"A stabbing attempt was thwarted," the Israeli army said in a statement, without providing her condition.

A spokeswoman for the Hadassah hospital said the assailant was being transferred to the Jerusalem facility, with her condition unknown.

Further details on the incident were not immediately available.
The Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba is located in the southern West Bank outside the flashpoint city of Hebron, where much of the recent violence has been focused.

Tensions have been high between several hundred Israeli settlers who live in the heart of Hebron under heavy military guard and Palestinian residents.

Since October 1, almost daily attacks by Palestinians and clashes with Israeli soldiers have killed 116 on the Palestinian side, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers, while others have been shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes.