Two Palestinian teens shot dead in alleged West Bank stabbing attempts

Two Palestinians were shot dead Tuesday after allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier and a pedestrian in separate attacks near Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The first incident occurred near the Gush Etzion bloc of settlements south of Jerusalem, the site of a series of recent attacks. A Palestinian brandishing a knife attempted to stab a pedestrian at a junction near the settlement bloc and was shot dead by an Israeli soldier, police and the army said.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead Palestinian as 16-year-old Mamoon Raed Muhammed al-Khateeb. Later in the day, in the northern West Bank, a young Palestinian woman who attempted to stab a soldier near the Israeli settlement of Einav was shot and killed by the serviceman, the army said.

Palestinian police sources identified her as 19-year-old Maram Hassouna, a university student in Nablus who had previously served two years in prison for another attempted knife attack. 

The incidents are the latest in a string of stabbings, shootings and car rammings in recent weeks. Many of the perpetrators have been young people, including teenagers, reflecting anger and lost hope over Israel's occupation, the Palestinians' fractured leadership and the complete lack of progress in peace efforts, analysts say.

At least 103 Palestinians have killed since early October, including 65 said by Israel to be attackers. Twenty-one Israelis have also been killed after violence erupted in Jerusalem following Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, a sensitive Jerusalem holy site.

Tuesday's violence also came a day after a Jerusalem court found two Israelis guilty of the burning alive of a Palestinian teen in the run-up to last year's Gaza war, but held off on convicting the alleged ringleader.

The third defendant, a 31-year-old Israeli settler, was found to have committed the crime, but the court delayed convicting him after his lawyers submitted a report in recent days arguing his mental state meant he was not responsible for his actions.

The report will now have to be evaluated, with a new hearing set for December 20. Palestinians and the victim's family harshly criticized the delay.

Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, was abducted and killed in July 2014, weeks after the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. 

Wire services