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Violence in territories where Palestinians seek statehood has surged in recent months after Israel launched a crackdown
Published : 04 Nov 2022, 03:00 PM
Israeli forces killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, including an Islamic Jihad militant and a man accused by police of stabbing an officer.
The other two fatalities were shot dead by troops during West Bank raids, the ministry said.
Violence in territories where Palestinians seek statehood has surged in recent months after Israel launched a crackdown in response to a spate of lethal street attacks in its cities.
The security situation was among factors contributing to far-right gains in an Israeli election on Tuesday that put conservative former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on track to return to power.
Pressing their crackdown, Israeli commandos raided the northern West Bank town of Jenin, killing the Islamic Jihad militant at a butchershop, locals said. His faction called the operation "a cowardly assassination".
The health ministry said another Palestinian, Mohammad Khalouf, 14, was killed in Jenin and four others wounded. The Israeli military confirmed its forces were operating in the city but did not immediately offer further comment or confirm the two deaths.
In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed Israel for the current escalation.
Abu Rudeineh said in a statement Israel's stepped up military strikes in West Bank cities could lead to "an all out explosion and to the point of no return".
Overnight, Israeli forces raided Beit Duqu, the West Bank hometown of a Palestinian who was shot dead on Wednesday while carrying out a car-ramming and stabbing attack that wounded an Israeli army officer.
Palestinians hurled rocks and petrol bombs at the soldiers, who responded with riot-dispersal means and live fire, the army said. A 45-year-old Palestinian man was killed, the ministry said.
In Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli police said a Palestinian stabbed an officer while undergoing a security search. Officers shot the assailant dead, police said, describing him as a resident of East Jerusalem.
Palestinian authorities had no immediate comment.
Medics said one officer suffered a bullet wound, which Israeli media described as a result of stray gunfire.
The incident took place near Al Aqsa, a major mosque and icon of Palestinian nationalism. It is also a vestige of two ancient Jewish temples, where rightist Israelis want Jewish prayers permitted - a provocation in the eyes of many Muslims.
