Palestinian girl shot dead after approaching Jewish settlement with knife

A Palestinian girl was shot and killed on Saturday after approaching a security guard in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank with a knife, Israeli police said.

The 13-year-old girl arrived at the West Bank settlement of Anatot, near Jerusalem, on early Saturday morning, and ran towards a security guard hired by the community, according to Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

The security guard shot her and wounded her critically, and shortly thereafter emergency services pronounced her dead. No Israelis were injured in the incident.

An initial investigation into the incident by the local police suggested that the girl fought with her family and left her home of Anata, a Palestinian village near the Anatot settlement.

Her father was arrested for interrogation at a local police station at the Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Adumim.

Twenty four Israelis and one U.S. national have died in lone-wolf stabbing, vehicular and shooting attacks by Palestinians in the past three months, since the start of the current wave of violence.

More than 150 Palestinians have died during this period, some in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests, while more than half were alleged attackers who were shot down at the scene of the attacks.

Palestinians and Israeli human rights groups charge excessive force is used against attackers at the scene.

Israeli leaders accuse the Palestinian Authority of incitement to violence amid the wave of attacks, fueled by strife over the religious site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem, known as Temple Mount for Jews, holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Palestinian leaders on their end charge the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, ongoing since 1967, and dim prospects of establishing a Palestinian state in these territories, are the cause for frustration leading Palestinians to carry out attacks.