Palestinians, 2 Israelis killed in flaring tension on eve of Christmas

A police spokeswoman says one of the Palestinians shot in Wednesday’s attack died at the scene and the other one at a hospital.

Israeli forces were said to have entered the camp to arrest three suspects, local officials said.

Shortly before, a Palestinian reportedly stabbed two Israeli security guards in the industrial district of the illegal Ariel settlement north of Salfit, the Israeli army said.

The attack at the Old City’s Jaffa Gate came at a time of increased visits to the Holy Land for the Christmas season.

A summer arson attack that left a Palestinian toddler and his parents dead, has unleashed a renewed cycle of intensified violence that has roiled Israel and the Palestinian territories for almost five months.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has voiced concerns over the excessive use of force and “extrajudicial killing” of Palestinians by Israeli forces.

The Palestinian Maan news agency identified all off the dead attackers as Palestinian residents of the West Bank.

Since mid-September, near-daily Palestinian stabbing, shooting and auto ramming attacks have killed 20 Israelis and an American student.

An Israeli army spokesperson confirmed that a soldier was “lightly injured” by the vehicle.

BAGHDAD (AP) – A wave of attacks across Iraq killed at least 15 civilians on Wednesday as government forces pressed on with their offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants from a major city west of Baghdad, officials said.

One Palestinian witness, Suhail Hamed, 39, said the police opened fire when the vehicle was 150 metres (yards) away from them. “The shocking pictures that were broadcast show the true face of a group that constitutes a danger to Israeli society and to the security of Israel”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

One of the assailants was killed at the scene; the other died of his wounds in hospital.

Palestinians have grown frustrated with Israel s occupation, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership.

Palestinians have often highlighted the lack of progress in the case as one of the causes of the wave of attacks targeting Israelis that began on October 1.