Gunman wounds 2 Israeli officers, 3 gunmen killed by police

Israeli forces demolished 24 Palestinian buildings in a disputed military zone in the West Bank Tuesday, including 10 funded by the European Union, leaving families homeless, authorities and residents said.

“These activities, advanced with the full cooperation and sometimes active aid of the state, not only exert extreme pressure on Palestinian neighborhoods but also intensify Israeli consolidation of the Historic Basin, further diminishing the viability of a two state solution”, the report concluded.

Israeli settler Yosef Haim Ben-David, 31, is said to have led the attack but his lawyers say he suffers from a mental illness and was not responsible for his actions at the time. A 15-year-old was transported to hospital after being hit by an Israeli jeep and four people were wounded by Israeli gunfire, according to Palestinian medics. One Israeli soldier was killed and another was injured.

Israeli police spokesman Luba Samri said the two female officers had been on a routine patrol when they spotted two men acting suspiciously.

Her colleague sustained moderate injuries from stab wounds, Levtzion-Korach said.

More than two dozen Israelis and about 170 Palestinians, a lot of them attackers, have died in the violence.

On Wednesday, three young Palestinian men from the occupied West Bank wielding guns, knives and pipe-bombs killed a paramilitary Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem and were shot dead.

“As one was producing identification, his accomplices… started firing and stabbing and managed to wound two female officers”, a police statement said.

Last night and early Thursday morning the Israeli army raided Qabatiya, a village in the Jenin district of the West Bank.

Following the attack, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with top security officials and chose to intensify security crackdown in the West Bank.

Only 14 percent of East Jerusalem land is zoned for Palestinian residential construction, while one-third of Palestinian land has been confiscated since 1967 to build illegal Jewish-only settlements, ACRI says. One of the Israeli police, Hadar Cohen, 19, died hours after the attack from a gunshot wound to the head. All three assailants were shot dead at the scene.

Israel says the violence has been fueled by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement.

But, our correspondent adds, it does seem as though the incidents are spontaneous, with attackers drawing motivation from material on social media rather than following orders from any militant organisation.