Palestinian assailants carried out a series of stabbings across Israel on Wednesday, jolting an anxious country unnerved by weeks of unrest as clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian demonstrators raged across the West Bank.
Advertisement
The Latin-rite Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem has called on Palestinians and Israelis to return to the negotiating table amid escalating violence in the region along ethnic and religious grounds, and fears of a new uprising or intifada.
Tuesday night’s talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials followed a call for restraint from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who had declared in a speech to the UN General Assembly last week that he was no longer bound by accords with Israel.
With a spate of stabbings deeply unnerving Israelis and riots rocking east Jerusalem and the West Bank, Netanyahu on Thursday vowed to pursue those “who stand behind” the attackers.
Shortly afterwards, police said officers had shot dead a suspect in southern Israel who allegedly stabbed a soldier and stole his weapon.
In return, the Israeli army killed six Palestinians, stating that three of them were shot for stabbing Israelis.
Four Israelis were killed last week in shooting and stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, while Israeli forces have killed four Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, amid violent protests. It’s revered by Muslims as the spot where Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven and by Jews as the site of the two Jewish biblical Temples.
It was the latest violence in a week in which bloody attacks left four Israelis dead.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank shot and seriously wounded an 18-year-old Palestinian near Bethlehem, the Red Crescent and witnesses said. Netanyahu postponed a visit to Germany that had been scheduled for Thursday to tackle the violence. Kiryat Gat, and surroundings has been relatively peaceful in recent months, but are a short drive from the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The vicious spike in violence between Palestinians and Israelis has now spread beyond Jerusalem and the West Bank, the historical hotspots.
The latest unrest began about three weeks ago as Palestinians barricaded themselves inside al-Aqsa mosque, located at the sacred site, and hurled stones, petrol bombs and fireworks at the police. The victim was seriously wounded and the attacker fled.
The first attack on Thursday saw a Palestinian stab a 25-year-old Jewish man in Jerusalem, leaving him in serious condition.
Muslims fear Israel will seek to change the longstanding rules governing the site, which allow Jews to visit but not pray to avoid provoking tensions.
It started at 10am in Israel (6pm Australian time) when a female terrorist stabbed a Jewish Israeli man in the neck with a knife in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Security measures were further tightened Thursday, with at least one metal detector set up in Jerusalem’s Old City at a main entrance and police stationed on rooftops.
Palestinian medics said two protesters in the usually quiet oasis town of Jericho were moderately wounded by shots to the legs.
Advertisement
“One of the advantages Israel has is that there are many veterans of military units with operational combat experience”, he said.
