Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian teenager on Tuesday morning after he allegedly attempted to stab soldiers in the southern occupied West Bank district of Hebron. An Israeli army spokeswoman told Ma’an that a Palestinian holding a knife attempted to attack Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint near the village of Bani Naim. The soldiers then shot at the youth, “resulting in his death,” she said, adding that no Israelis were injured in the case. Bani Naim mayor Mahmoud Manasra identified the slain Palestinian as local teenager Issa Salim Mahmoud Tarayra, 16. Local sources said they heard gunshots coming from the Wadi al-Joz junction near Bani Naim, then saw large numbers of Israeli military vehicles rushing to the area and setting up a number of roadblocks. An eyewitness told Ma'an that a bus traveling from Bani Naim to Hebron stopped at the Wadi al-Joz junction, at which point a youth stepped out of the bus, "then Israeli troops fired at him." Tarayra is the 2
Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of the novel coronavirus spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with some joking that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario. But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned. "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible