Israeli troops shot and killed four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, official Palestinian sources said before the suspected perpetrator of a ramming attack was killed after injuring an Israeli soldier, according to the Israeli military and medical services. .
The army said it opened fire on “rioters” in two separate clashes in the West Bank, claiming they attacked Israeli soldiers.
A 20-year-old soldier was ‘moderately injured’ in a vehicular attack, the Israeli army said, saying it ‘neutralized’ its alleged perpetrator near the Israeli settlement of Kokhav Yaakov, near the Palestinian town from Ramallah.
The soldier was taken to Shaarei Tsedek Hospital in Jerusalem along with the alleged attacker. The establishment confirmed that the latter had been killed. He is a 45-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, according to Palestinian security sources.
“The conflict is again reaching a boiling point,” said UN mediator for the Middle East Tor Wennesland on Monday, in a context of renewed Israeli-Palestinian violence that has not abated for several months.
The occupied West Bank once again experienced deadly violence on Tuesday, notably in Beit Ommar, near Hebron, where tensions remain high between Israeli settlers and the local Palestinian population, and in Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, headquarters of the Palestinian Authority.
In Beit Ommar, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, a Palestinian died after being shot in the head by the Israeli army. He was identified as Moufid Mahmoud Khalil (44) by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.
“Growing resistance”
The army said it opened fire on “rioters” who threw rocks and explosive devices at the soldiers after two army vehicles on patrol were blocked by a technical problem.
Then, in Kafr Ein, Jawad and Dhafer Abdelrahmane Rimawi, two brothers aged 22 and 21, were killed by Israeli army fire, according to the Palestinian ministry.
Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh denounced a “cold-blooded execution”.
The Israeli army spoke of a “violent riot” during a “routine operation” in the night, with “suspects” throwing “stones and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers, who responded with means riot dispersal and live fire”.
And in Al-Mughair, a village northeast of Ramallah, Palestinian Raed Ghazi Al-Naasan died after being hit in the chest by Israeli army gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. He was killed on Tuesday afternoon during clashes with Israeli forces, according to the Wafa agency.
Hamas warned that the Israeli “escalation” would meet “increasing resistance” in the West Bank, Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
New government
From the spring, the Israeli army increased raids through this territory, in the wake of deadly anti-Israeli attacks.
The violence in the West Bank has killed more than 125 Palestinians, including fighters, the heaviest toll in seven years, according to the UN.
For its part, the office of outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid estimated on Tuesday at 31 the number of Israelis killed in “acts of terrorism” since the beginning of the year.
In this context, negotiations continue in Israel to form a new government between Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, head of the right-wing Likud party, and his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies, who won the majority in the November 1 legislative elections. (64 seats out of 120).
A figurehead of the extreme right, Itamar Ben Gvir has already signed an agreement with the Likud under which he will occupy the post of Minister of National Security in the next government.
However, last week, the Israeli army suspended two soldiers implicated in the attack on human rights activists in Hebron, one of whom had spoken out in favor of this tenor of the extreme right. “Ben Gvir is going to clean up here. It’s over, you lost […] the party is over”, declared one of the two soldiers, remarks which scandalized a large part of the Israeli press.