OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — A Palestinian and an Israeli
guard were killed in the occupied West Bank after Israeli forces raided
Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on the last Friday of Ramadan, reported Al-Jazeera News.
اضافة اعلان
The Palestinian — who was killed by Israeli
forces during a pre-dawn Israeli operation in the northern West Bank town of
Azzun — was identified by the Palestinian news agency, Wafa, as 27-year-old
Yahya Adwan.
Meanwhile, on Saturday,
Israeli forces carried out a manhunt in the occupied West Bank after an Israeli guard was shot
dead in an attack claimed by a Palestinian armed group.
Israel stated that the guard killed was placed
at the entrance to the Ariel settlement on Friday night when fire was opened. Emergency
services confirmed the man, in his 20s, had died from his wounds.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, one of the main
militant groups active in the West Bank, claimed responsibility for the shooting
which, along with the killing of a Palestinian, brought a deadly conclusion to
a Friday.
The group is the armed wing of Palestinian
president
Mahmud Abbas's Fatah faction.
"We claim responsibility for the heroic
operation in the colony of Ariel in which a Zionist officer was killed, in
response to violations committed by the occupation government in
Jerusalem," the group said.
In response to the incident, Israel on
Saturday stepped up its presence, particularly at the entrance to the neighboring
Palestinian community of Salfit, according to a statement carried by AFP.
The statement added that security forces had
made arrests and seized weapons at Bruqin, also nearby, and at Balata refugee
camp near Nablus.
Earlier on Friday, the
Palestinian Red Crescent reported that 42 people were hurt at Aqsa compound. For Palestinians
some 300 people have been injured due to violence over the last two-week
period.
In Azzun, dozens of people, including armed
members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, gathered Saturday for Adwan's funeral.
After the funeral procession, violence ensured and three Palestinians were hospitalized
after being hit in the legs by Israeli live fire.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is in occupied East
Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, along with the
West Bank, and later annexed, in a move not recognized by most of the
international community.
Israel has since built settlements in the
West Bank that are illegal under international law.
The Al-Aqsa tensions came against a backdrop
of wider violence since March 22 in Israel and the West Bank afte.
A total of 27
Palestinians and three Israeli
Arabs have died since then. Thirteen Israelis died within that same period.
The fresh unrest comes ahead of the end of
Ramadan early next week.
Violence in east Jerusalem has raised fears
of another armed conflict similar to the 11-day Israeli war last year in Gaza.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
