17-year-old Palestinian teenager should have been shot at least in the knee, Israeli deputy says

"That girl (Ahed Al-Tamimi) should have been shot at least in the knee, that way she would have been sentenced to house arrest for life," Israeli deputy Bezalel Smotrich tweeted late Sunday.

The member of Knesset from Jewish Home party drew fire upon the statement, with Meretz deputy Michal Rozin slamming him with a question.

"You should be ashamed of yourself. Last week, Israeli settlers threw stones against Israeli soldiers, were they shot?" he asked.

Ahed Tamimi, 17, became a hero to Palestinians after the Dec 15 incident outside her home in the village of Nabi Saleh was streamed live on Facebook by her mother and went viral.

The teenager, who was detained soon afterwards, is currently serving eight months in prison after serving three months in pretrial detention, and will have to pay a $1,500 fine.

The 17-year-old girl comes from a well-known Palestinian family, which has been quite active in the West Bank protests over the past years. Many of her family members were either killed or detained during Israeli military operations.

Some 356 Palestinian minors were being held by Israeli authorities in detention centers as of the end of February 2016, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said.