Israeli forces early Wednesday morning shot and injured a Palestinian teen near the illegal Yitzhar settlement in the occupied West Bank claiming she was carrying a knife, a Palestinian official said.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma’an that Istabraq Ahmad Noor, 15, was shot after Israeli forces claimed she was planning to sneak into the settlement to stab residents inside.

The teenage girl is from the village of Madama south of Nablus, Daghlas added.

Israeli sources claimed the girl was 10 meters away from a fence surrounding the settlement when Israeli soldiers chased her and fired at her hand. She was reportedly caught 300 meters from the fence and evacuated to a hospital.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that overnight Israeli forces received reports of a suspect near the Yizhar settlement before coming to the scene, when they reportedly told the teen to halt.

The spokesperson said that when she “failed to comply” they fired warning shots in the air before firing at the teen, confirming a hit to the suspect’s hand and reporting light injuries.

The teen was “in possession of a knife and a firebomb,” the army spokesperson added.

The Nablus area is one of several in the occupied West Bank that has witnessed increased tension between Palestinian residents and Israeli settlers living in the area.

The Yizhar settlement where Noor was shot overnight has gained notoriety among both Israelis and Palestinians as a bastion of extremists and its Israeli residents regularly carry out attacks on Palestinians and their property.

Last week, settlers from the Yitzhar settlement threw stones at locals picking olives in the Nablus-area village of Burin, injuring four Palestinians. Dozens of acres of Palestinian agricultural land was also burned.

Stabbing attacks have taken place throughout occupied Palestinian territory and Israel this month leaving at least nine Israelis dead, including three settlers.

Last night Palestinian teens Bashar Nidal al-Jabari, 15, and Hussam Jamil al-Jabari, 17, were shot dead in the Hebron area after reportedly stabbing and injuring an Israeli soldier.

Their deaths marked 46 Palestinians to be killed since Oct. 1, many of whom rights groups claim were killed through “extrajudicial execution” by Israeli forces, who have been urged by officials to shoot and kill alleged attackers on scene. MAANNEWS