JENIN,
Palestinian Territories — Israeli forces in the Mediterranean port city of
Ashkelon shot dead a Palestinian man in his 40s after he allegedly “pulled out
a knife and attacked” an Israeli officer. In the northern West Bank city of
Jenin, violence between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians continued as Israel
carried out military operations for a fourth day.
اضافة اعلان
According to Israeli forces, the man killed in Ashkelon was from Hebron —
a powder keg city in the Palestinian West Bank where around 1,000 Jewish
settlers live under heavy military protection among more than 200,000
Palestinians.
Al-Jazeera News’ Nida Ibrahim reported that
“The Palestinians are saying that the man did not pose any threat and that the
Israeli police were acting in a very violent way.”
Israeli police stated that the policeman
“fired and neutralized the suspect, whose death was declared on-site”, adding
that the officer was hospitalized with light wounds from a kitchen knife.
Military operations are being carried out
around Jenin after an assailant from the area last week shot and killed three
people in a Tel Aviv bar in the latest attacks on Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett — who
warned in response that there would “not be limits for this war” — vowed during
a visit to the Tel Aviv shooting scene overnight: “We will not let our enemy
stop our lives. … We will fight where they are located, in their bases, at their
source…”.
In Tuesday’s battles, Israeli forces “fired
live bullets, stun grenades and tear gas,” the official Palestinian news agency
Wafa said.
Palestinian youth also clashed elsewhere with
Israeli forces, including in Ramallah, where they threw rocks and were met with
tear gas. Israeli forces have stepped up operations over the past three weeks
in which four shooting, stabbing and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians have
left 14 Israelis dead.
Over the same period, Israeli forces have
killed 15 Palestinians, including assailants, according to an AFP tally.
Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu
Rudeineh charged that Israel’s actions “will lead to a dangerous and
uncontrollable escalation” and cause a new “cycle of violence”.
Militant group Islamic Jihad, meanwhile,
hailed the Palestinian response to Israel’s military incursions in Jenin and
other cities.
“We salute our people who stand like an
unyielding barricade in the face of the Zionist enemy’s terrorism,” it said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
followed “with deep concern the escalating violence in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory and Israel,” said his spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“He is appalled by the increasingly high
number of casualties, including women and children,” Dujarric added.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz visited
an area Tuesday where a barrier that runs along the West Bank border is to be
extended by 40km in coming months under a plan approved Sunday. More Israeli
military presence will also be reinforced, said the Israeli army.
Israel started building the more than 500km barrier,
which is part concrete wall and part fence, 20 years ago. Palestinians say the
barrier’s construction effectively confiscated nearly 10 percent of West Bank
territory, and the International Court of Justice has ruled it illegal.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
