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Israeli troops kill three more Palestinians

Video circulated by Palestinian activists showed a young man wearing a kippa brandishing a pistol as shots rang out before Israeli soldiers moved in to pull him away from a body lying on the ground.

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Israeli police say a policeman has been stabbed by a Palestinian assailant on the outskirts of Jerusalem, in what would be the fifth such attack in one day.

There have also been fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian protestors across the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers and a settler shot and killed two Palestinians who allegedly attempted to stab Jews in east Jerusalem and the West Bank on Saturday morning, officials said. The Israeli, who was carrying a gun, shot and killed the attacker.

All of the incidents involved a Palestinian assailant attempting to stab an Israeli.

Israel also killed two Palestinians in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, where about 500 Jewish settlers live in a heavily guarded enclave in the city centre surrounded by about 200,000 Palestinians. They were pushed back by Palestinian security forces who arrived on site, but not in time to stop rebels setting parts of it on fire. The Foreign Press Association for Israel and the Palestinian territories said it “marks a worrying development” that demands all media operate with greater caution.

The upsurge in violence began last month when tensions at a flashpoint holy site in East Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims boiled over amid rumours Israel planned to relax long-standing rules to strengthen Jewish rights at the complex.

The recent wave of Palestinian anger was triggered by what they see as Israeli encroachment at the al-Aqsa mosque compound, on what Jews call the Temple Mount.

Violent protests have also erupted in annexed east Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In Gaza, the Israeli military said hundreds of people gathered along the border, a few hurling rocks and burning tyres at the fence.

The military said the Israeli civilian shot and killed the Palestinian before the man could harm him. Later, police said a Palestinian woman stabbed a female officer at a border police base in Hebron and lightly injured her before the officer shot her dead. One of the incidents occurred near Hebron where an armed Israeli civilian shot and killed a Palestinian terrorist coming at him with a knife.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the “reprehensible” attack at Joseph’s Tomb in the city of Nablus and called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians continued unabated on Saturday.

Another statement said Mr Kerry had a call with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday and “reiterated the importance of avoiding further violence and preventing inflammatory rhetoric, accusations”.

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De Blasio met with his Tel Aviv counterpart, Ron Huldai, in the seaside city early Saturday before attending an event sponsored by a mixed Israeli-Palestinian school.

A Palestinian posing as a journalist runs after a wounded Israeli soldier to continue stabbing him before being shot dead near the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday