Israeli couple shot dead in occupied West Bank

The Israeli has a clear obligation under global law to protect the Palestinian civilian population, including from Israeli citizens.

A group of around 50 women as well as several men protested outside a gate before demonstrating inside the neighbourhood, where they were blocked by police.

Israeli police say a Palestinian teen who stabbed and wounded an Israeli teen was shot dead by police before dawn in Jerusalem.

Earlier on Saturday, Palestinian sources said two Israelis were killed and two others injured during clashes between 19-year-old Palestinian youth, Mohannad Rafiq Halab, and Israeli settlers in the occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Israeli-Palestinian violence has been on the rise since mid-September amid clashes at a Jerusalem shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims.

“We are very concerned about mounting tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem, including the Haram al Sharif/Temple Mount, and call on all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and avoid escalating the situation”, the statement said.

In light of the shooting, right-wing politicians accused Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s incitement for the attack, which came a day after he threatened to stop abiding by all agreements with Israel in a fiery speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

Israel has sent hundreds of troop reinforcements to the West Bank after Palestinian gunmen killed a Jewish couple in a drive-by shooting.

Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said that since Friday, an increased police presence in eastern Jerusalem has tamped down the violence.

The festivities included the launching of fireworks and the waving of flags in the streets, Ofir Gendelman, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Media reports said three of the victims were members of the same ultra-Orthodox family on their way to pray at the Western Wall.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the victim was taken to hospital in moderate condition and that police men “saw the terrorist holding a knife, shot and neutralized him”.

“Jewish settlers attacked villages near the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus and Hebron”, one witness told Anadolu Agency. The shots killed Eitam and Naama Henkin, residents of the Jewish West Bank settlement of Neria.

Muslims fear Israel will seek to change rules governing the site, located in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem.

Tensions between Jews and Arabs in the area increased amid the standstill in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian authority, as the last round of peace talks ended abruptly in April 2014.