Palestinians die in West Bank attacks on Israelis, clashes

Israeli soldiers work around the body of a Palestinian assailant after he was shoot dead in the West Bank city of Hebron, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2015.

Camera footage published subsequently by Israeli media showed Israeli settlers attacking the Palestinian perpetrators with sticks after they had already been shot.

Near the West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces after he tried to stab them with a screwdriver, the army said.

The four separate incidents came as revelers were gathering in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for Christmas celebrations, festivities that are being dampened by the latest outburst of violence.

But it coincided with growing Israeli ultranationalist anger over what one cabinet minister called uncommon interrogation methods used against suspects in the fatal arson attack on a house in Duma village five months ago.

Near-daily Palestinian attacks have killed 20 Israelis and an American student. Samri had said earlier that one of the wounded may have been shot by police officers who were firing at the Palestinian assailants. Israeli fire has killed 124 Palestinians, 85 of them said by Israel to be attackers while the rest were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

Aired on Israel’s Channel 10 television late on Wednesday (Dec 23), the clip showed a wedding at which one dancing celebrant stabbed a picture of 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh while others waved assault rifles, knives and what appeared to be a petrol bomb. Israel has not yet pressed charges in the attack, though it is holding three suspects.

Among drivers for the bloodshed have been access to a contested Jerusalem shrine, stalled peace talks and a July 31 arson by suspected Jewish zealots that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents, an incident which Israeli authorities have not yet cleared up.

The Shin Bet, in a rare public response, denied on Thursday it had tortured any of the suspects and said such “lies” were being disseminated in an effort to undermine the investigation.

Also Wednesday, the Israeli Shin Bet intelligence agency said it had uncovered “a wide terrorist infrastructure” of the militant Islamic group Hamas in the West Bank and Israel, directed from Gaza.

Shin Bet said the arrests were made in recent weeks.