A Palestinian woman carrying a suspicious object was moderately wounded by IDF fire on Friday morning near the Bekaot checkpoint in the Jordan Valley, north of Jericho.
This picture, released by the IDF, shows the toy gun (top) brandished Friday by a young Palestinian woman who wanted to commit suicide by getting IDF soldiers at the Bekaot checkpoint to shoot her. A real gun (bottom) is shown for comparison purposes.
Photo: IDF
The soldiers shot at the woman's lower body after shooting in the air and after she did not heed their calls to stop advancing towards them, the military said.
After the woman was shot, the soldiers discovered she was carrying a toy gun. She was evacuated to Haemek Hospital in Afula in moderate condition.
An officer of the Civil Administration who interrogated the wounded woman asked her why she acted in this manner. She showed him bruise marks on her hands and said she wanted to kill herself after having been abused at home. The woman is an 18 years old, married with a child.
The IDF said troops at the checkpoint acted according to protocol.
Three years ago, a gunman shot and killed an IDF soldier at the same checkpoint. IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Ro'i Farjun was killed at there in August 2006, after a Palestinian opened fire at him. Troops returned fire, killing the gunman.
Yaakov Katz contributed to this report.
