Palestinian on hunger strike in Israel in critical condition

Most others have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Near the southern West Bank city of Hebron, a Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli soldier and was shot dead, the Israeli military said, the latest in more than three months of such attacks.

In a separate incident, a military spokeswoman said troops fatally shot a Palestinian who got out of a vehicle and tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Local witnesses told local Palestinian Maan News Agency that Israeli soldiers shot at least one Palestinian near the junction, before “surrounding him and preventing ambulances from approaching the area”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman Ofir Gendelman on Tuesday described the violent display as yet another example of the “glorification of terrorism” by the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian security officials identified the suspected assailant as Mohammed Kawasbeh.

He was rushed to Beit Jala public hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A second man, who the army said had driven the attacker to the scene, was shot and injured as he fled.

Twenty-three Israelis and an American have been killed in Palestinian attacks including stabbings, vehicle rammings and gunfire since 1 October. He was shot dead, and a security guard also fired at the Eritrean, wounding him.

In Beit Jala, Israeli forces were reported to have ransacked a number of homes, restaurants and shops in the town’s al-Sahl area, where Abu Srour was killed. The wave of bloodshed has raised fears of wider escalation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

Israel has been accusing the Palestinian Authority of “inciting” the violence, while the Palestinians say it is the result of 49 years of Israeli control of their lands.