Israeli forces kill Palestinians after alleged attacks

At least five Palestinians shot dead in West Bank and East Jerusalem in incidents described by Israel as stabbings.

At least five Palestinians have been killed in the occupied Palestinian territories, three by Israeli security forces and one by an Israeli settler, bringing the total number of Palestinians killed since the beginning of the month to 43.

On Saturday evening, an Israeli soldier fatally shot a Palestinian man in the Old City of Hebron, situated in the southern occupied West Bank, according to local media. 

Earlier in the evening, an Israeli border guard killed a Palestinian after authorities alleged that the man attempted to knife the soldier at the Qalandiya checkpoint between Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

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In occupied East Jerusalem, where most of the unrest has taken place, Israeli forces shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian after he allegedly drew a knife on officers in East Talpiot settlement.

The area is where two Palestinian men boarded a bus earlier in the week and allegedly began shooting and stabbing passengers, killing two Israelis and bringing the toll of Israelis killed since the beginning of October to seven.

Three more shootings on Saturday took place 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 nearly 200,000 Palestinians.

In the first Hebron incident, a Palestinian tried to stab a settler before his intended victim, who was unharmed, shot him dead, the army said.

Witnesses, however, disputed the police version of events.

Video circulated by Palestinian activists showed a young man wearing a Jewish kippa, or cap, 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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Several residents claimed a knife was placed by a soldier on the body of the Palestinian just after he was shot.

In the second attack, a 16-year-old Palestinian girl allegedly attempted to stab a female Israeli soldier outside a border guard base before being shot dead by her would-be victim.

The soldier suffered minor injuries to her hand, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Witnesses told Palestinian media that the girl was left on the ground without medical help and bled to death.

A third Palestinian was shot in Hebron after allegedly stabbing and moderately wounding a soldier, the army reported, without saying whether the attacker was killed.

Rights groups have warned that Israel is using excessive force against Palestinians and that some of the incidents amounted to extrajudicial killings.

The violence has been triggered in part by recent visits by Jewish groups to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem, coupled with Israeli restrictions on Palestinian access to the mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

Frustration is also mounting as Israel continues to build Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank, taking over Palestinian lands, in defiance of international law.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies