Israelis Kill Woman at Roadblock

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian woman near a West Bank roadblock Wednesday, and police said they arrested a bomb-toting Palestinian in a northern Israeli town.

In new violence, Israeli soldiers and Palestinians exchanged heavy fire in the West Bank, and Palestinians threw grenades at soldiers in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army said. There were no reports of casualties.

In the West Bank, a doctor said a Palestinian woman in labor who was barred from passing a checkpoint for an hour gave birth in her car to a baby boy, who died before reaching a clinic. Israel said the claim was unfounded.

An Israeli soldier shot and killed a Palestinian woman after her taxi skirted a roadblock in an attempt to take workers to jobs in Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel credited its security measures for the capture of a would-be suicide bomber as he prepared to set off explosives in Afula.

“A great disaster was prevented,” police spokesman Yaron Zamir said after officers captured the 30-year-old Palestinian man in Afula and safely detonated the pipe bomb he was allegedly carrying in a bag. “This is the first time that police forces managed to overpower a suicide bomber with an explosive and detonator in his hands.”