Four Palestinian assailants killed by Israeli forces

Some observers attribute the recent uptick in violence to a July arson attack in the West Bank by suspected Jewish settlers that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child and his parents, which led to an worldwide outcry.

Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinian attackers after they tried to stab Israeli soldiers in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank, global media report.

Three Palestinians attacked a group of soldiers with knives, the army said in a statement, and the “forces thwarted (the) attack and shot (the) assailants”. No soldiers were injured during the incident.

Three of them were killed at the Gush Etzion junction and were later on identified as cousins Ahmad Salim Abd al-Majid Kawazba, Alaa Abed Muhammad Kawazba and Muhannad Ziyad Kawazba.

Three of the Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the first attempt, and just hours later a fourth was shot dead, in the southern city of Hebron.

Nearly daily stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks by Palestinians have killed 21 Israelis and a USA citizen since the start of October, raising fears of a wider escalation a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

Israel says the bloodshed is fuelled by a Palestinian campaign of incitement.

According to the United Nations, 19 homes of families and neighbours of Palestinian attackers were destroyed by Israel a year ago.

Reacting to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s order to his security cabinet to prepare contingency plans for the fall of the Palestinian Authority (PA), PA President Mahmoud Abbas denied on Wednesday that the Palestinian governing body is in jeopardy of collapse.