JERUSALEM -- Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday who they said had approached them while carrying a knife.
The military released a photo of what it said was the knife she was carrying. It said the soldiers were patrolling a highway near the Al-Aroub refugee camp in the southern West Bank. No soldiers were wounded.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the woman as Ghafran Warasna and said she was shot in the chest. The Palestinian Prisoners' Club said the 31-year-old had been released from Israeli prison in April after serving three months.
Israeli-Palestinian violence has intensified in recent weeks with near-daily arrest raids by the Israeli military amid a string of attacks by Palestinians that have killed at least 19 people.
Tensions have soared following the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who worked for Al Jazeera, and an Israeli ultranationalist march throua Palestinian neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
Recent weeks have seen at least 35 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Many of them were carrying out attacks or were involved in confrontations with Israeli forces in the West Bank. But Abu Akleh, an unarmed woman and two apparent bystanders were also among those killed.
Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbing attacks in recent years but Israel has also faced criticism from rights groups who say security forces sometimes use deadly force rather than arresting suspected attackers.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and the Palestinians want it to be the main part of their future state.
Nearly 3 million Palestinians live under Israeli military rule in the territory, alongside a growing population of nearly 500,000 Jewish settlers who have Israeli citizenship. The last serious peace talks broke down more than a decade ago.
