Israeli troops getting new neck guards to protect against stabbings, report claims

The attacker had attempted to stab police on Haim Bar-Lev Street in Jerusalem near the Old City and then tried to run away.

Prosecutors filed three murder charges at an Israeli district court against Amiram Ben-Oliel, a 21-year-old from Jerusalem, according to Israel’s Justice Department. A second, underaged defendant, whose name was not released for publication, was charged as Ben-Oliel’s accessory in the Duma arson, which killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh and his parents, Saad and Riham.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Health stated on Friday that Israeli soldiers or settlers in 2015 shot and killed 179 Palestinians, including unarmed protesters, bystanders and alleged attackers.

At the same time, 139 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks.

A female Israeli soldier was among two injured in separate shootings on Sunday in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Israeli army.

The Palestinian birth rate of 4.1 from 2011-2013 in the “occupied territories” (compared to the Israeli birth rate of 3.1) will bring the populations on par by 2017, the report states.

Also Tuesday, Israeli forces apprehended a young Palestinian in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, who had been feared to be on his way to attack Israelis, police said.

In the Duma attack on July 31, masked assailants reportedly hurled Molotov cocktails through the windows of the Dawabsha home, which were left open because of the summer heat. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustration stemming from almost five decades of Israeli occupation.

Amjad Abu Asab, who heads an East Jerusalem committee for prisoners’ families, said that both children were detained last Wednesday and were “interrogated in the absence of adult family members and lawyers, which is a serious violation of Israeli law and worldwide law”.

Saad Dawabsheh’s brother, Naser, voiced hope that the Duma defendants would receive the maximum penalty, though he was sceptical of Israel’s seriousness in prosecuting the case.

The Yesha council, an umbrella group of West Bank settlements, commended Sunday’s indictment and said the suspects do not represent it.

In the early stages of the unrest, PA security forces allowed crowds to approach checkpoints, where they protested and clashed with Israeli security forces.

“It is now clear that these acts were perpetrated by a fringe group of anarchists bent on destroying the State of Israel and the freedom and justice that it represents”, it said in a statement. She was moderately wounded and troops were searching for the shooter.

A military spokeswoman told AFP he was a reserve soldier.