Israeli forces kill two Palestinians

Israeli security forces have shot and killed two Palestinians in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem. 

In the first incident around noontime on Thursday, one Palestinian was shot and killed near the Hizme checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian media reports identified the man as 37-year-old intelligence officer Mazen Aribe.

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Aribe lived in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Abu Dis and was a father of four, Al Jazeera has learned.

In a statement, the Israeli military said Aribe stopped at a checkpoint, exited his vehicle and started firing.

“The forces responded, shooting the attacker and resulting in his death.”

The statement said an Israeli soldier and a bystander were wounded. Hadassah hospital said it was treating a seriously injured man who had been shot in the upper torso in the incident.

In the second incident, police shot and killed a Palestinian man, after he allegedly stabbed and wounded a security officer near Jerusalem’s Old City.

The man “stabbed a policeman, leaving him injured,”

A police statement said the man “stabbed a policeman, leaving him injured,” but provided no details on the Palestinian fatality.

The two incidents come amid a recent wave of violence in Israel and occupied Palestinian territories, following Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Since October 1, there have been at least 106 Palestinians killed, as well as 21 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

Palestinian leaders blame Israel for the wave of violence, saying its continued occupation and settlement building along with a lack of progress in peace efforts have led to hopelessness among youths.

The settlements are illegal under international law and major stumbling blocks to peace efforts, with those in the West Bank and East Jerusalem built on land seen as part of a future Palestinian state.