By Zein Khalil
JERUSALEM (AA) – The Israeli army said on Saturday that it shot a Palestinian detainee at a military base in the eastern occupied West Bank after he allegedly attacked a female soldier.
A military statement said the detainee freed himself from restraints at a military base in the Jordan Valley and assaulted a female conscript, causing minor injuries. Another female soldier at the site “neutralized the suspect by opening fire,” the army said.
The army said the injured soldier was taken to a hospital for treatment but did not disclose the fate of the Palestinian detainee.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the detainee was shot in the knees and sustained moderate injuries. The broadcaster said the man is in his 50s and was arrested on Friday at the Allenby Bridge crossing, without specifying the reason, and was taken directly to detention at an unnamed military facility.
At the base, the detainee attacked the soldier with a stick, causing superficial injuries, Channel 12 reported.
The Allenby Bridge, known to Palestinians as the Karama Crossing and to Jordanians as the King Hussein Bridge, is the West Bank's only connection to the outside world through Jordan.
Israel has intensified its military operations in the West Bank since launching its war on the Gaza Strip on Oct. 8, 2023, including killings, arrests, forced displacement, and settlement expansion, a trajectory Palestinians say is aimed at paving the way for the formal annexation of the occupied territory.
More than 1,112 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank, about 11,500 wounded, and more than 21,000 detained during that period, according to Palestinian estimates.
The International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal in a landmark opinion in July 2024 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul