Israeli police kill two Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian woman and her teenage brother on Wednesday near Qalandia military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, after they allegedly tried to stab security personnel.

The police said that the two Palestinians were walking in a cars-only road and they warned them to stop several times.

The woman "...walked the other way with the man, when she suddenly turned around to face the officers again, she pulled a knife that was in her purse and threw it at an officer near her," according to Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the woman as Maram Abu Ismail, 23, and her 16-year-old brother as Ibrahim Taha.

Alaa Soboh, a Palestinian bus driver who said he witnessed the incident, said that the siblings appeared to be unfamiliar with crossing procedures and were swiftly challenged.

"As soon as the two crossed, [Israeli forces] started screaming 'Go back, go back', and then they began shooting. The first one they shot was the girl ... the boy tried to go backward, when they fired seven bullets at him," Soboh said.

No Israelis were wounded in incident, which is the latest in a wave of violence that has brought about the deaths of at least 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis, two Americans, an Eritrean and a Sudanese national since the beginning of October 2015.