Two Palestinians, one a teenager, have been killed in separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, hours after police apprehended two Palestinian men suspected of killing three Israelis last week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was the latest episode of violence during weeks of Palestinian attacks in Israel, and Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank that have left at least 18 Israelis and some 30 Palestinians dead.
The Palestinian man died after he was shot by Israeli troops trying to cross the security fence near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military said that soldiers "spotted a suspect who attempted to illegally cross the security fence" near the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem and fired at him.
It said the man was evacuated to receive medical treatment, but declined commenting on the man's condition. The Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the man's death.
The Israeli military also said an Israeli civilian shot a Palestinian armed with a knife who entered a West Bank settlement south of Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Mutassim Atallah was killed in the Tekoa settlement.
The military said troops were searching the area for additional suspects, but provided no additional details about the incident.
In a separate incident, a Palestinian man allegedly stabbed an Israeli police officer outside Jerusalem's Old City. Police said the knife-wielding man stabbed the policeman, and other officers at the scene near the Damascus Gate shot the assailant.
Paramedics said the officer was hospitalised in moderate condition. The attacker's condition was not immediately clear.
Sunday's incidents were the latest in string of violent episodes in recent weeks, including deadly attacks inside Israel, an Israeli military crackdown in the West Bank, and clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at a major holy site in Jerusalem sacred to Jews and Muslims.
Earlier on Sunday Israeli police said forces captured two Palestinians who killed three people in a stabbing attack last week and fled the scene, sparking a massive manhunt and keeping the country on edge.
The two attackers went on a stabbing rampage in the ultra-Orthodox city of Elad on Thursday, Israel's Independence Day, killing three and wounding at least four others before bolting.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told his Cabinet that forces captured "terrorists awash with incitement who killed with axes and unimaginable cruelty."
He said Israel was entering a "new stage in the war on terror," and said Israel was establishing a civilian national guard that would be deployed in emergency situations like the kinds of attacks the country has witnessed in recent weeks.
"The Israeli government's main goal is to restore personal security to Israeli citizens," he said.
A joint statement by police, the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency said the men, identified as 19- and 20-year-old Palestinians, were caught near a quarry not far from Elad following a search that began Thursday by special forces and commando units using helicopters and other means.
Australian Associated Press
