Israeli forces shot dead Palestinian girl a day before 16th birthday

Fulla Rasmi al-Masalma was shot in the head by Israeli troops during an army raid in Beitunia, west of Ramallah.

She was the passenger in a car with another person who was wounded in the shooting.

According to Ahmed Faraj from Beitunia municipality the soldiers did not wait a single moment before shooting when they saw the car.

The Israeli military said soldiers shot at a "suspicious" vehicle as it accelerated towards them and did not heed their call to stop.

Eyewitnesses refuted the Israeli claim that the vehicle accelerated towards them and did not heed their call to stop stressing that Masalma was denied medical attention.

Faraj said there was "no way" the pair could have known there was a raid going on, and that they stumbled upon the soldiers by accident.

He noted that Israeli soldiers were shooting to kill, not to make them stop.

Faraj said the 15-year-old was denied medical attention and left to bleed for nearly 25 minutes, according to security footage and witness testimony.

Israeli forces have long been criticized for their “shoot-to-kill” policy against Palestinians in cases where the victims did not pose an imminent threat to the lives of the Israeli soldiers who then killed them.

Rights groups say the policy amounts to "summary execution".

The shooting on Monday morning happened during a raid-and-arrest operation by Israeli forces.

At least 138 Palestinians, including at least 30 children, have been killed in the West Bank this year, making it the deadliest on a monthly average for Palestinians since the UN began recording fatalities in 2005.