International
Hazem Bader / AFP / Getty Images
Israeli forces on Wednesday shot dead a Palestinian man who allegedly tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank, and an Israeli woman was wounded in a separate knife attack near a Jewish settlement there, Israeli military and police said.
According to military reports, the slain Palestinian — identified as 23-year-old Islam Rafiq Hammad Ibeido — approached an army outpost near the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba in Hebron, drew a knife and attempted to stab a soldier, but was unsuccessful.
Witnesses told Palestinian-run Ma'an News Agency that Israeli soldiers shot at Ibeido 11 times and "put a knife in his hand." In recent weeks, witnesses have accused Israeli forces of planting knives on slain Palestinians charged with stabbing attacks.
Immediately after the shooting death, clashes broke out between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the Hebron area.
In a separate incident, an Israeli woman was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack near a supermarket in the Gush Etzion settlement, south of Bethlehem, the Israeli military said. The suspected assailant, a Palestinian, was arrested.
A day earlier, Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians suspected of carrying out stabbing attacks, as clashes between protesters and Israeli forces in the West Bank left 143 Palestinians injured.
The recent surge in violence broke out in early October after Israel imposed restrictions on worshipers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Israel has periodically undertaken such measures for what it says are security precautions. After the latest restrictions were implemented, four Israelis were killed in two attacks blamed on Palestinians. Israeli settlers in the West Bank responded by rioting, assaulting Palestinians and destroying their property. A spate of protests, clashes and stabbings have ensued.
Palestinian protesters are calling for unrestricted access to worship at Al-Aqsa, a site also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. The protesters also demand an end to Israel’s decades-long military occupation of the Palestinian territories and the cessation of settlement building, both of which are illegal under international law.
Since the beginning of October, at least 63 Palestinians and 11 Israelis have been killed. Israeli authorities say at least 34 of the Palestinian dead were involved in attacks on Israelis. More than 2,000 Palestinians have also been injured in clashes with Israeli forces, leading the Red Crescent to declare an emergency.
Al-Aqsa Mosque compound has served as a flashpoint for tensions and violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the past. Currently Jews are allowed to visit the compound, but cannot pray there. Calls by some Israeli leaders and right-wing Jewish groups to reconstruct an ancient temple on the site, combined with increased restrictions on Muslim worshippers and Israeli incursions into occupied East Jerusalem, have stoked Palestinian fears that Israel is changing the status quo surrounding the holy site. Israel denies such claims.
A U.S.-sponsored Jordanian plan announced on Saturday to install surveillance cameras at Al-Aqsa Mosque to ensure both Israelis and Palestinians respect the status quo has not yet been implemented. Palestinians have voiced concern that Israel could use such footage to arrest protesters.
Palestinians are frustrated by the failure of numerous rounds of peace talks to secure them an independent state comprising the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israel captured those territories during the Six-Day War in 1967. Peace talks between the two sides last collapsed in 2014.
Amnesty International said on Tuesday that it had found some of the killings of Palestinians were unjustified, and that Israeli forces were using "extreme and unlawful measures." Israel says lethal force is justified against deadly threats and attacks against civilians and military personnel.
Al Jazeera and Reuters
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