Israel shuts down Palestinian radio station it says incites

A Palestinian fatally stabbed two people in a Tel Aviv office building and three people, including an American teenager, were killed in an attack in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Israeli police and the army said.

In a press statement, the general-secretary denounced the early Saturday raid and attack on the radio station by Israeli forces, stressing that such measure comes as part of Israel’s persistent violations of global law.

Zaki Heller, a spokesman for the Israeli emergency services, said the injuries were in a moderate condition and included a 51-year-old man, 56 and 44-year-old women, and a 13-year-old teen.

Police initially called the incident a “confirmed terrorist attack”, but later modified their definition to call it a “suspected terror attack”.

Israel’s civil administration, a unit of the defense ministry, said Al-Khalil had broadcast “lies about Palestinians being executed and abducted by security forces”.

The attack bears the hallmarks of the recent spike in violence between Israelis and Palestinians, caused by a dispute over Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Under interim peace agreements, Israel controls cellular networks in the West Bank.

Israeli forces say they have shut down a West Bank radio station amid allegations it was inciting Palestinians to attack Israelis.

It’s the second station in Hebron to be closed in November. It did not provide further examples of the incitement. “They also took broadcasting items and gave us an order banning us from working for six months because they accuse us of incitement”, Amjad Shawar, the radio station manager, told RT.

Dozens of people gathered outside later to support the radio station. The protesters held signs reading: “the voice of Hebron shall never be silenced”.