ISRAELI troops shot dead two more Palestinians yesterday in the restive West Bank city of Hebron.

Police said a Palestinian man had stabbed a soldier in the head, slightly wounding him, and then tried to stab another security officer before Israeli forces opened fire and killed the attacker.

Later, Israeli forces killed another Palestinian who, the army claimed, had attempted to stab an Israeli soldier.

But community activist Issa Amro, who saw the shooting, disputed the Israeli account, saying he had not seen a knife.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian woman shot and wounded by security forces at a bus station in northern Israel was due to be released from custody yesterday after the Justice Ministry decided not to charge her.

The ministry said on Wednesday that its decision was influenced by mobile phone video footage, widely circulated after the shooting, showing that Israa Abed had committed no aggressive actions before police and soldiers opened fire.

Her father Zeidan Abed told the Ma’an news agency: “Police proved what I have been saying from the beginning. Issa is an educated young woman who aims to serve the community and who did not intend to harm anyone.”

- Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon was left fuming on Wednesday after Venezuela, an ally of the Palestinians in their struggle, was elected to the world body’s human rights council.

“When a country like Venezuela, which suppresses its own people, forbids freedom of the press and detains members of the opposition, becomes a member of the human rights council, it comes as no surprise that this council condemns Israel more than any other country in the world,” the ambassador blustered.