Israeli border police had stopped to question a 16-year-old Palestinian walking in “a suspicious manner” through a neighbourhood around East Jerusalem, a police spokesman said.
Advertisement
Israeli police say a female officer shot dead a Palestinian woman who stabbed her in the West Bank city of Hebron.
An Israeli soldier grabs a Palestinian’s hand holding a knife after he stabbed another Israeli soldier, seen on the ground during clashes in Hebron, West Bank Friday, October 16, 2015. Around 2,100 Palestinians, majority civilians, and 73 Israelis, majority soldiers, were killed.
Over the past month, eight Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks – majority stabbings.
Israeli troops fired tear gas at Palestinian protesters in the West Bank after several stabbing attacks, including two in the town of Hebron. The daily attacks have caused a sense of panic across Israel and raised fears of a new round of heavy violence.
“I don’t think we can wait for all the issues that exist between Israel and Palestine to be settled for us to try to tamp down violence right now”, he said.
But the unrest escalated amid rumours suggesting that Israel was planning changes to Jerusalem’s al- Aqsa holy compound – a site of great importance to both Muslims and Jews.
According to a statement from the State Department, he expressed his “deep concern over the recent wave of violence and offer[ed] his support for efforts to restore calm as soon as possible”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack on the shrine, venerated for centuries by Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims, and ordered repairs and an investigation.
Four Palestinian assailants were shot dead on Saturday as a series of lone-wolf stabbing attacks continued in Israel despite tight security across the country.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said that hundreds of Palestinians breached what Israel considers to be a buffer zone in Gaza territory along the border fence and attempted to damage the fence, hurling rocks, rolling burning tyres and posing a “direct threat” to nearby Israeli communities.
Abbas has been under pressure over recent comments that a few have labelled incitement and has called for peaceful protests without explicitly condemning the violence.
The new security measures have done little to hinder the frustrated young people who have ignored appeals from both the Israeli and Palestinian governments to maintain calm.
Palestine’s top diplomat at the United Nations asked the Security Council on Friday to consider providing global protection for Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Anadolu Agency reported.
Overnight Thursday, a group of Palestinians set fire to a compound housing Joseph’s Tomb, a religious site in the West Bank venerated by Jews, sparking condemnations between Palestinian and Israeli authorities.
Advertisement
The arson came as Palestinians called for a “Friday of revolution” against Israel.
