Israeli troops kill two Palestinians in Gaza stone-throwing clash

The Tel Aviv regime has also increased the number of illegal arbitrary detentions of Palestinians, accusing them of contemplating plans to attack Israeli troops and settler units.

A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks targeting Israelis erupted in October, and there have been allegations that Israel has responded with excessive force in some cases.

Israel’s deputy foreign minister earlier said Israel would continue a policy of barring the Swedish foreign minister from visiting the country, accusing Ms Wallstrom of fostering terrorism.

Palestinian attacks have killed 24 Israelis and a USA citizen over the same period. Hours later, a second Palestinian, Muhammad Majdi Qaita, 26, died after being shot in the stomach during clashes in the same area.

A foreign ministry spokesman later walked back her comments, saying they referred only to Wallstrom and not other Swedish officials.

On Friday, IDF shot and killed two Palestinians in a stone-throwing clash near the Gaza border, a Palestinian medical official said.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said in a statement that it called in Swedish Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser to reprimand him over what it deemed “another statement by her (Wallstrom) that attests to her biased and even hostile attitude to Israel”.

The remarks followed a warning by a senior Yaalon adviser that the U.S.-backed Palestinian administration, which quietly coordinates West Bank security efforts with Israel despite the diplomatic impasse between the sides, might change course.

“There is a natural tendency in the European Union establishment to single out Israel and treat it in ways that other countries are not being dealt with, and especially other democracies”, Netanyahu told journalists Thursday, Reuters reported. “UMKR is pleased to learn of these actions, while noting that [the church pension fund] still holds stock in ten companies located inside the illegal settlements and in several others that lend important support to Israel’s occupation”, the group said on its website. Some 143 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire; 100 of them are said by Israel to have been attackers.