No let up in violence

Israeli security forces shot and killed a Palestinian who ran at them with a knife in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, police said, as a month-long wave of violence showed no signs of abating.

An Israeli police spokeswoman said that at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank a Palestinian holding a knife ran toward a security officer who called on him to stop.

Since the latest unrest began on Oct 1, at least 65 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israelis. Of those, 38 were assailants armed mainly with knives, Israel said, while others were shot during violent anti-Israel protests. Many were teens. Eleven Israelis have been killed in stabbings and shootings.

On Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said an eight-month-old baby had died in a West Bank village as result of inhaling teargas fired by the Israeli military in the area. Hospital officials told Reuters the infant had a prior health condition and that it was unclear what had caused his death.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said forces confronted with stone-throwing Palestinians had used teargas in the area, but that it was fired dozens of meters away from the home of the family and that an investigation concluded there to be no direct link to the baby's death.

Palestinians say Israeli police and soldiers are using excessive force, while Israel says lethal force is justified against deadly threats.

On Friday, top Palestinian officials urged the world's only permanent war crimes court to speed up a probe into allegations of Israeli abuses .

"It is extremely important to expedite the process... because if Israel feels impunity, what will deter Israel from multiplying the victims?" Palestinian foreign minister Riad al-Malki said.

He was speaking after handing over a new dossier to Meanwhile International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda , "making reference to the extra-judicial killings, home demolition and collective punishments."

It also cited examples "in the last 40 days of Israeli aggression."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas met Bensouda on Friday for the first time since the Palestinian Authority sparked controversy by joining the tribunal in January.