West News Wire: In separate instances in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israeli troops killed four Palestinians.
Israel is counting the final ballots from this week’s national elections when the violence on Thursday erupted. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is anticipated to win with a solid majority supported by friends on the far right.
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Israeli fire in the West Bank claimed the life of a Palestinian man. He was identified as 42-year-old West Bank resident Daoud Mahmoud Khalil Rayan from Beit Duqqu.
Paramilitary border guards allegedly stormed the home of a Palestinian, who the Israeli police said drove his car into an Israeli soldier on Wednesday. The guards had to deal with a protest there, according to the police, as protesters threw firebombs and stones.
In a separate incident on Thursday, a Palestinian allegedly stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City, police said, and officers opened fire, killing the man. The officer was lightly wounded.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed during Israeli army raids in Jenin, including an Islamic Jihad fighter.
The violence came as a political shift is under way in Israel after national elections, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely to return to power in a coalition government made up of far-right allies, including the extreme far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in response to the incidents said Israel would soon take a tougher approach to attackers.
“The time has come to restore security to the streets,” he tweeted. “The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be taken out!”
The incidents were the latest in a wave of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that has killed more than 130 Palestinians this year, making 2022 the deadliest since 2015.
Near daily raids have been conducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank, with Palestinian fighters responding to the incursions by attacking Israeli soldiers.
The raids have been part of an Israeli operation called “Break the Wave”, which is an attempt to stop the emergence of new Palestinian resistance groups in the West Bank.
The incursions have been met in recent weeks by a rise in attacks against Israelis, killing at least three.
Also on Thursday, Israel said, it was removing checkpoints in and out of the city of Nablus. Israel had imposed the restrictions weeks ago, clamping down on the city in response to a new militant group known as the Lions’ Den. The military has conducted repeated operations in the city in recent weeks, killing or arresting the group’s top commanders.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 war, and has since maintained an illegal military occupation over the territory and settled more than 500,000 people there. The Palestinians want the territory, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, for their hoped-for independent state. In a separate incident on Thursday, a Palestinian allegedly stabbed a police officer in Jerusalem’s Old City, police said, and officers opened fire, killing the man. The officer was lightly wounded.
Meanwhile, two Palestinians were killed during Israeli army raids in Jenin, including an Islamic Jihad fighter.
The violence came as a political shift is under way in Israel after national elections, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likely to return to power in a coalition government made up of far-right allies, including the extreme far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in response to the incidents said Israel would soon take a tougher approach to attackers.
“The time has come to restore security to the streets,” he tweeted. “The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be taken out!”
The incidents were the latest in a wave of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that has killed more than 130 Palestinians this year, making 2022 the deadliest since 2015.
Near daily raids have been conducted by Israeli forces in the West Bank, with Palestinian fighters responding to the incursions by attacking Israeli soldiers.
The raids have been part of an Israeli operation called “Break the Wave”, which is an attempt to stop the emergence of new Palestinian resistance groups in the West Bank.
In response to the intrusions, attacks on Israelis have increased recently, leaving at least three dead.
Israel stated that it was also reducing roadblocks into and out of the city of Nablus on Thursday. Israel had put the city under severe control weeks earlier in response to a brand-new terrorist organization called the Lions’ Den. In recent weeks, the military has carried out numerous operations in the city, killing or detaining the top leaders of the group.
Israel won the West Bank in the 1967 war and has since occupied the region illegitimately with its troops, settling more than 500,000 people there. The land, together with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, is what the Palestinians desire for their future independent state.
