Israeli police accidentally kill young girl after ‘ramming attack’ on West Bank checkpoint
Israeli police have accidentally killed a young Palestinian girl after opening fire on a car suspected of a ramming attack, emergency services in Israel have said.
The border police said they fatally shot the girl, reported to be three or four years old, after firing at a couple in a car who, they said, rammed into two Israeli officers at a West Bank checkpoint.
The unidentified girl was in a van in front of the car which ploughed into the crossing near the Palestinian village of Biddu, just northwest of Jerusalem on Sunday evening.
Video footage from a security camera appeared to show a white car being driven into a pair of Israeli police officers at the checkpoint.
Police then chased after the vehicle, opening fire.
They hit a man and a woman inside the car, along with the girl in the vehicle in front, police said.
Israeli paramedics gave her age as three but Palestinian sources told the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, that she was four.
She was treated at the scene but pronounced dead by Israeli doctors, the Israeli ambulance services said, without giving the cause of death.
A female officer in the paramilitary border police was also lightly wounded, paramedics said.
A member of Israeli security forces at the scene
The West Bank checkpoint where the girl was killed. Pic: AP
The Israeli police said in a statement a car with a man and a woman stopped at a crossing near Jerusalem and committed a ramming attack against border police, who responded with live fire.
The suspected attackers were “neutralised”, the police said, without providing details.
Palestinian sources told WAFA that the couple were also killed in the shooting.
‘Dire situation’ elsewhere in West Bank after clash
Earlier, the Israeli army said one of its helicopters attacked Palestinians who were throwing explosives at Israeli vehicles in Jenin, also in the West Bank.
Seven Palestinians were killed in the airstrike, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Mujahhid Nazal, a doctor at a nearby clinic who rushed to the scene, said: “It was a really dire situation, seven young men were lying on the ground.”
Violence erupted after a policeman was killed and three others were injured when a roadside bomb exploded near an Israeli security vehicle.
People inspect the site of an Israeli airstrike in the West Bank city of Jenin. Pic: AP
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Funeral for Palestinians killed in West Bank
Tensions have increased in the West Bank since Israel invaded Gaza.
The war there is nearing the three-month mark and has killed more than 22,800 people, more than two-thirds of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. Its count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
Some 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes and squeezed into small slivers of the territory. Israel’s siege has caused a humanitarian crisis, with a quarter of the population starving because not enough supplies are entering the area, according to the UN.
Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas after its 7 October attack, in which militants killed around 1,200 people and abducted approximately 240 others.
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Mark Regev, a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told Sky News on Sunday that Israeli forces had finished dismantling Hamas in northern Gaza.
Mr Regev suggested this “success” could mean the “beginning of the end” for the war.
He said any rebuilding and return of Palestinians to the area would “have to wait for the end of combat operations”.
However, he said there was hope that Palestinians could go back to their homes “in the not too distant future”.
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Mark Regev hopes the war is getting closer to ending
The adviser also said he agreed with Antony Blinken – the US secretary of state – who said earlier that there have been too many civilian deaths in Gaza.
“We didn’t want to see a single civilian death, and we’ve tried to make a maximum effort to avoid civilian deaths,” Mr Regev told Sky News.
He claimed the number of civilians getting caught in the crossfire “has been going down”.
Questioned on whether there was any disagreement between Israel and the US on post-conflict security, after Mr Blinken said Washington “had a vision” for Gaza’s future, Mr Regev said the two countries agreed on the “overall strategy” to ensure Hamas is “destroyed”.
“There can be no answers on what comes afterwards,” he said.
“We would like to see a government by Palestinians, for Palestinians… that insists on the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip and de-radicalisation.”
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy has met Israel’s prime minister in an effort to secure a ceasefire deal in Gaza before the president-elect takes office on 20 January.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed details of the meeting with Steve Witkoff on Saturday, adding that the head of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency has been deployed to Qatar in order to “advance” talks.
It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Doha for the latest round of indirect discussions between Israel and Hamas.
Earlier on Saturday, an Israeli official said some progress had been made, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza.
Ronen Bar (left), director of Israel’s security agency, and David Barnea (right), head of Mossad, at a ceremony marking the 7 October Hamas attack. File pic: Reuters
The mediators are making renewed efforts to halt fighting in Gaza and free the remaining Israeli hostages held there before Mr Trump takes office.
A deal would also involve the release of some Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Families of Israeli hostages welcomed Mr Netanyahu’s decision to dispatch the officials, with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters describing it as a “historic opportunity”.
Mr Witkoff arrived in Doha on Friday and met the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s foreign ministry said.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators received reassurances from Mr Witkoff that the US would continue to work towards a fair deal to end the war soon, Egyptian security sources said, though no further details were released.
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Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Mr Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the area destroyed and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its population displaced.
Pope Francis has been honoured with America’s highest civilian award by President Joe Biden, who has described the pontiff as “a light of faith, hope, and love that shines brightly across the world”.
It is the first time Mr Biden, 82, has given the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction during his four years in office.
In a statement, the White House said the award is “presented to individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavours”.
Mr Biden had been scheduled to present the medal to Pope Francis, 88, in person on Saturday in Rome on what was to be the final overseas trip of his presidency. But the president cancelled his visit to monitor the California wildfires.
The White House said Mr Biden bestowed the award during a phone call in which they also discussed efforts to promote peace and alleviate suffering around the world.
President Joe Biden presented Bono with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Pic: AP
Denzel Washington was also recognised. Pic: AP
Michael J Fox was bestowed with the honour. Pic: AP
The award can be presented with or without distinction.
Mr Biden presented the medal of freedom – without distinction – on 5 January to several people including fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, humanitarian and U2 singer Bono, fashion designer Ralph Lauren and actors Michael J Fox and Denzel Washington.
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Mr Biden himself is a recipient of the award with distinction, recognised when he was vice president by then president Barack Obama in a surprise ceremony eight years ago.
Barack Obama presented Joe Biden with the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction in 2017. File pic: AP
The citation for the pope’s honour said his “mission of serving the poor has never ceased”.
“A loving pastor, he joyfully answers children’s questions about God. A challenging teacher, he commands us to fight for peace and protect the planet. A welcoming leader, he reaches out to different faiths,” it added.
Ukraine has captured two North Korean soldiers fighting in Russia’s Kursk region, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
The injured pair are now in Kyiv and communicating with the Security Service of Ukraine, the country’s domestic intelligence agency, he said.
Ukrainian special forces and paratroopers captured the North Koreans, Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
“As with all prisoners of war, these two North Korean soldiers are receiving the necessary medical assistance,” he said.
“I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine to grant journalists access to these prisoners.
“The world needs to know the truth about what is happening.”
Mr Zelenskyy said capturing the soldiers alive was “not easy”. He also claimed Russian and North Korean forces fighting in Kursk have tried to conceal the presence of North Korean soldiers, including by killing wounded comrades on the battlefield to avoid their capture and interrogation by Ukraine.
The post included images of the two men – one with a bandage around his jaw and the other around both hands and wrists – and what appeared to be a Russian military document.
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Ukraine’s security service SBU on Saturday provided further details.
It said one of those detained had no documents at all, while the other had been carrying a Russian military ID card in the name of a man from Tuva, a Russian region bordering Mongolia.
“The prisoners do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so communication with them takes place through Korean translators in cooperation with South Korean intelligence,” a statement said.
One of the soldiers claimed he had been told he was going to Russia for training, rather than to fight against Ukraine, according to the SBU.
The agency added both men are being provided with medical care in line with the Geneva Conventions, and investigated “in cooperation with South Korean intelligence”.
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North Korean regular troops entered the war on Russia’s side in October, according to Ukraine and its Western allies.
US, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments suggest up to 12,000 North Korean combat troops have been sent by Pyongyang under a pact with Moscow.
They believe North Korea has also been supplying Russia with vast quantities of artillery shells.
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