Clashes have broken out across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as a result of ongoing confrontations between Palestinians and Israeli armed forces over the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.
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A Palestinian girl was shot and injured by a Jewish settler on Wednesday near an entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem after she allegedly tried to stab him, according to Israeli media reports.
Netanyahu’s response comes a day after government ministers such as Avigdor Lieberman, chairman of far-right political party Bayit Yehudi (Jewish Home) and other Israeli politicians criticized his handling of what many fear is the start of a third Palestinian intifadah.
In the latest attack, an Arab stabbed a soldier on a bus in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Gat, grabbed his gun and ran into a residential building, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
Mean while in the West Bank settlers shot and seriously wounded a Palestinian after a stone throwing incident.
One of the Palestinians was hit in the back of the head.
Violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, primarily in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Hundreds of Palestinian youths hurled rocks at Israeli security forces in Bethlehem after the burial of 13-year-old Abdel Rahman Obeid Allah, a schoolboy reportedly shot and killed by Israeli security forces Monday.
Israeli Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Army Radio that regular security coordination between Israel and the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where the Palestinians have limited self-rule, was continuing.
Netanyahu also authorized an increased police and military presence in the West Bank, while deploying thousands more police officers across Jerusalem, where on Saturday a 19-year-old Palestinian attacked and killed two Israelis and wounded two more.
Israeli forces arrest a Palestinian during clashes in the Palestinian neighborhood of Shuafat in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) on October 5, 2015.
Wednesday’s spate followed several other terror attacks over the last several days which left four Israelis dead. Settlers threw stones against houses and families who were sleeping outdoors, injuring a 12 year-old child of the Abu Qpeita’s family who was taken to the Yatta Hospital. The violence comes during heightened tensions in the country, after four Israelis were killed in two attacks in the past week.
On Tuesday and Wednesday night, violence was also reported in the Israeli cities of Jaffa, Lod and Umm al-Fahm, as Israeli Arabs protested Israeli policies.
Later on Wednesday, a Jewish man was attacked with a knife outside a shopping centre in Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv, police said, adding that the attacker had been overpowered.
Another similar attack occurred in Petach Tikvah where a Palestinian was shot and held in custody after stabbing a number of people near a shopping mall.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, fed up with years of diplomatic paralysis and unpopular with his public, does not want to appear to be caving in to Israeli pressure. He welcomed the commitment by Palestinian and Israeli officials to work together to curb the violence, including through continued security cooperation.
