Palestinians injured as Israel hunts settlers’ killers
At least 10 wounded by Israeli fire in West Bank during raid by troops looking for gunmen who killed a settler couple.
At least 10 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank during a raid by troops hunting the murderers of a Jewish settler couple, Palestinian police and medical sources said.
Palestinian police said Saturday’s violence began when “dozens of Israeli soldiers in military vehicles” entered an eastern neighbourhood of Nablus, one of the largest cities in the West Bank.
“They arrested eight people and conducted searches, entering properties by force and causing damage,” the police said.
Palestinians protesting against the raid in the territory’s main northern city of Nablus hurled stones at soldiers, who responded by shooting rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and live ammunition, the sources said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said, “10 people were wounded by live rounds to the legs or stomach,” and “four others were wounded in beatings” by security forces.
Settler parents killed
Tensions have soared in the West Bank since the settler couple was shot dead in their car in front of their four children on Thursday evening.
Rabbi Eitam Henkin and his wife Naama, both in the 30s, were buried in Jerusalem on Friday.
Israel has launched a huge manhunt for the gunmen, and deployed troop reinforcements to maintain order following revenge attacks by settlers.
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Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Jerusalem, said the unprecedented appearance of Israel’s defence minister, the army chief of staff and the head of Shin Bet, at the site of the killing indicated that the military campaign was going to be extensive.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was unable to comment on the manhunt.
Palestinian news agency WAFA said a 35-year-old man was shot in the leg by settlers near Bethlehem, and police said settlers had stoned a number of cars and set fire to olive trees.
In the Palestinian village of Beitillu, assailants torched a car and spray-painted “Revenge Henkin” in Hebrew on a wall, the army said, adding that nobody was hurt.