Three Palestinians attempted to stab Israeli soldiers in the southern West Bank on Thursday and were shot dead, the army said.
Advertisement
According to the army, soldiers identified three Palestinians they said appeared suspicious approaching the junction from the direction of Beit Fajjar. None of the soldiers were injured.
A military spokeswoman said that all three were killed.
The Etzion Bloc junction has been a focal point in the ongoing three-month wave of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli security forces and civilians.
The assailant in Hebron was reported as Khalil Shalalda, 16, who also came from Sa’ir.
With the latest incidents, the Palestinian death toll since the beginning of the latest unrest late past year increased to 149.
Also stoking the violence has been Muslim opposition to increased Israeli access to Jerusalem’s al Aqsa mosque complex, which is the third holiest site in Islam and is also revered in Judaism as the location of two biblical temples.
Yonatan Gher, the head of Amnesty International in Israel, said the incident was an example of how the Israeli government had incited distrust and ill-feeling towards Arab Israelis, particularly in the wake of a deadly shooting attack in Tel Aviv last week by an Arab Israeli gunman.
Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 136 Palestinians in the same period, 86 of whom authorities described as assailants.
During that time, 27 Israelis have been killed by the ostensibly random violence and more than 100 Palestinians have been killed while in the act of an assault.
Advertisement
A Palestinian man has his identity checked by Israeli border police patrolling the streets of the West Bank city of Hebron on January 5, 2016.
