West Bank Palestinians attend funerals of woman and teener shot by Israeli soldiers

 

Mourners say evening prayers underneath a banner with the picture of Salih al-Amarin, 15, hanging from his home in of Azza Refugee Camp in anticipation of his funeral, 23 January 2013. Salih al-Amarin was shot in the head with live ammunition by Israeli forces on 18 January 2013 during clashes in Bethlehem's nearby Aida refugee camp. Photo Ryan Rodrick Beiler/Activestills.org

 
Hundreds of mourners on Wednesday attended the funerals of a woman and a teenager shot and killed by Israeli forces in Bethlehem. The death of these two brought the number of Palestinians that have been fatally shot by Israeli forces in January to at least six.
Lubna Hanash, 22, was shot in the head on Wednesday morning as Israeli soldiers in a civilian car opened fire at a group standing at the entrance to al-Arrub refugee camp south of Bethlehem.
She was buried in the Hussein Ubayyat cemetery on the eastern outskirts of Bethlehem.
Update: The Israeli army said that the soldier opened fire when Palestinians hurled firebombs at his car. The killed woman's friend however, Suad Jaara, told Ma'an News later that there was nobody at the spot exept her and Lubna when the soldier started shooting. She herself was wounded in the arm. So again the list of cases like this one, where the army kills under suspicious circumstaces, grows. (End of update) 
 The same day, 15-year-old Salih al-Amarin, from Azza refugee camp, died in hospital. Israeli forces shot him in the head during clashes in Bethlehem on Friday.
Mourners carried the teenager's body from his family home to a cemetery in Aida refugee camp.
Clashes erupted near Aida camp as angry residents threw stones at Israeli soldiers, who fired rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters at mourners, injuring 10 Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a statement calling for "strong condemnation from the international community" of these shootings, and urged "immediate intervention to compel Israel to desist from these serious attacks on our people."