The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa said Saturday that a Palestinian teenager shot dead as he tried to carry out at stabbing attack in Hebron earlier in the day had been “left to bleed to death” by IDF troops who prevented him from receiving medical treatment.
Advertisement
The torching of Joseph’s Tomb in Nablus came as Palestinians called for a “Friday of revolution” against Israel, while Israeli fire killed two Palestinians and wounded 98 in clashes along the border with the Gaza Strip.
The incident heightened concerns among journalists about their safety.
The foreign press association in Israel and the Palestinian territories said it deplored the attack and called on Palestinian media organizations to verify all staff credentials.
Palestinians have torched a site in the West Bank revered by Jews and others worldwide in an incident that threatens to further inflame more than two weeks of deadly unrest, as fresh protests were planned for Friday.
During the same period, 33 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire – 15 labeled by Israel as attackers, and the others in clashes between stone-throwers and Israeli troops. He said his cousin – who was shot by the police after attacking them – talked him into it.
A wounded Israeli soldier kneels over the body of a Palestinian who stabbed him during clashes in Hebron, West Bank Friday, October 16, 2015.
Five Palestinians were killed Friday in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, he detailed the recent attacks among Israelis and Palestinians, including stabbing attacks on Israeli civilians and the killings of Palestinians by security forces.
“I call on the parents to show responsibility for their children and tell us, the police, about any unusual behavior”, said Haim Shmueli. “But you also had a situation where the Jews were asking why there’s no freedom of religion at the third most holy site in Islam and the first holy site for the Jews”. Men under 40 were barred from the shrine, and hundreds of young worshippers spread out prayer mats on streets leading to the Old City. For more than a thousand years under the Ottomans, Jews were forbidden to go there. The shrine is revered by Muslims as the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and by Jews as the home of their biblical Temples.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday reiterated his willingness to meet Abbas, while accusing him of inciting violence.
Palestinians say the violence is the result of almost 50 years of Israeli occupation, 20 years of failed peace efforts and a lack of hope for gaining independence anytime soon.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian Authority envoy to the United Nations, called on the Security Council to provide global protection to the al-Aqsa compound. They furthered supposed Palestinian Arab national aspirations by intensifying global support of Palestinian goals and winning Israeli territorial concessions, but because of Palestinian disinterest in an actual state, these gains have led nowhere.
The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, under pressure over recent comments that a few have labelled incitement, quickly condemned the fire at the site known as Joseph’s Tomb in the northern city of Nablus.
Muslims believe an Islamic cleric, Sheikh Yussef (Joseph) Dawiqat was buried there two centuries ago.
Israel has adamantly denied the allegations, saying it has no plans to change the status quo at the site, where Jews are allowed to visit but not pray.
Advertisement
Palestinian police dispersed the crowd and firefighters extinguished the blaze before Israeli security forces arrived.
