The organization also vowed to free its Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in prisoner swaps similar to those implemented in the past.
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“Hamas vows to remain faithful to the liberation of Palestine and to keep its weapon directed at the Israeli occupation only”, the statement read. Most Palestinians believe if the current individual attacks develop into an armed intifada, the violence might serve Palestinian national interests more than negotiations would.
Many of the Palestinians killed have been alleged attackers, and a large number have been young people, including teenagers.
Diab said at about 7:30 am, an Israeli police force arrived at her house in Sheikh Jarrah and ordered her and her family out of the house and emptied its contents prior to demolishing it.
Police said the Palestinian, 21-year-old Abdul Mohsen Hassouna from Beit Hanina in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, had died, while Israel’s medical services said none of the victims’ injuries were life-threatening.
Two Palestinians have been killed after attacking Israeli security forces during an overnight raid in the West Bank.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signaled a possible warming of relations with Israel, saying in comments published Monday that the entire region would benefit from the normalization of ties.
“There can never be justification for wanton attacks on civilians like we saw today”, said Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev.
Rights group Defense for Children International-Palestine found in July that in the first half of 2014, “86 percent of Palestinian children experienced some form of physical violence during their arrest or interrogation”. A similar figure supported his resignation in a poll released three months ago.
Late Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that concrete barriers be placed near hundreds of bus stops in Jerusalem to protect people against similar attacks, his office said.
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Barkat praised the “immediate alertness” of bystanders who averted “a grave tragedy”.
