Four Attackers Killed in West Bank by Israeli Soldiers

Nineteen Israelis and more than 100 Palestinians, mostly attackers, have been killed amid spiralling unrest.

Palestinian medical sources in Hebron, in the southern part of the occupied West Bank, reported that Israeli soldiers shot dead, on Friday at dawn, two Palestinians in Tal Romeida neighborhood, in the center of Hebron city.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Israeli troops opened fire and killed a Palestinian man near the city of Ramallah on the same day after accusing him of being behind a stabbing attack that wounded an Israeli.

“The last two months saw wide intrusions, with 1,826 settlers forcing their way into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under the protection of the Israeli police and army”, Hanna Issa, head of the Muslim-Christian Committee for Supporting Al Quds and Sanctity, said.

Later, in the settlement of Ofra, in the northern West Bank, an attacker drove a vehicle at Israeli soldiers, injuring two of them.

Since the start of October, 105 people have been killed on the Palestinian side, including an Arab Israeli, while 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean have died.

The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Health confirmed that a Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli military forces near the village, which is located adjacent to the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish.

Israel faces mounting pressure to bring the perpetrators of the July attack in the occupied West Bank to justice, with a United Nations envoy on yesterday expressing concern over the “slow progress” in the probe.

Israeli leaders from across the political spectrum condemned the attack, but the lack of suspects has remained a sore point among Palestinians.

A lawyer representing one suspect held over the arson appeared in court in the Israeli city of Lod on Thursday to request access to speak with his client, but was refused, he said. Reham Dawabsheh and her husband Saad, succumbed to their injuries later on and only their four-year-old son managed to survive the barbaric attack. One soldier and a civilian were wounded before security forces killed the attacker.

The alleged attacks left 22 Israelis dead and 215 injured, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service. Their four young children in the back of the auto escaped unharmed.

Israel says home demolition is an effective tool to deter attacks, but critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment.