World Bulletin/News Desk

An Israeli police spokesperson on Monday described as "severe" the injury of a Palestinian female youth who was shot by Israeli troops after allegedly stabbed an Israeli soldier near the Gush Etzion junction in southern West Bank.

"A Palestinian female youth attempted to stab an [Israeli] soldier at the Gush Etzion junction which left an Israeli citizen  with extremely minor wounds that didn't require transferring him for treatment," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

"Israeli army forces fired at her [the Palestinian youth], causing what has been said to be severe wounds and she was transferred to the Hadassah Medical Center [in West Jerusalem]," she added.

Eyewitnesses had earlier confirmed that a Palestinian woman in her 20s was shot by the Israeli troops near the Gush Etzion junction.

The Israeli army sealed the roads surrounding the site of the incident and deployed large forces around it, eyewitnesses had said.

Tension has run high in the region since late October, when Israel briefly closed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem after an extremist rabbi was shot and injured by a Palestinian man in West Jerusalem.

The shooting suspect was subsequently killed by Israeli forces in a raid on his East Jerusalem home.

Further aggravating the situation, a handful of Israeli MPs and scores of Jewish settlers have forced their way into the mosque complex in recent weeks, drawing the ire of Muslim worshippers and official condemnation from Arab and Muslim countries.

Since then, several Israelis have been killed and injured in a spate of attacks by Palestinians – both inside Israel and in the occupied territories.

For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world's third holiest site. Jews, for their part, refer to the area as the "Temple Mount," claiming it was the site of two Jewish temples in ancient times.

In September 2000, a visit to Al-Aqsa by controversial Israeli politician Ariel Sharon triggered what later became known as the "Second Intifada," a popular uprising against Israel's decades-long occupation in which thousands of Palestinians were killed.