Two Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis

Israeli policemen shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab an officer near Jerusalem’s walled Old City on Saturday, a police spokeswoman said, as nearly three months of heightened violence shows no sign of abating.

“An attempted attack to ram a auto into border guards deployed in the village of Silwad (northwest of Ramallah) failed”. Troops on the scene opened fire at the attacker and killed him, the military said. Palestinian health officials said Hani Wahdan, 22, died in the clash.

Israel says the unrelenting violence is fanned by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement.

The Palestinians were “attempting to damage the security fence by throwing rocks and hurling burning tyres at it. He was swiftly shot and neutralized”, she said.

“But because of the ongoing violence and the threat to nearby (Israeli) communities they fired towards the main instigators”, she said.

The latest incident raises the death toll to at least 127 Palestinians killed since early October, with Israeli authorities having described a majority as assailants.

Since mid-September, a wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicular attacks have killed 20 Israelis.

The Palestinians consider the victims martyrs in their fight against Israel.