Two Palestinians shot dead by Israeli soldiers in ‘cold blood’

BEKAOT CHECKPOINT, West Bank Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian men at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, the Israeli military and Palestinians said, but details of the incident were disputed.

Twenty-two Israelis and an American have been killed in Palestinian attacks including stabbings, auto rammings and gunfire targeting security forces and civilians since October 1. “Israeli- Palestinian peace can only be achieved in bilateral talks between the parties, not by anti-Israel activists trying to win over scholarly groups in the U.S.”.

“Earlier, two assailants attempted to stab IDF forces at security crossing near Beka’ot”.

About two hours later a Palestinian tried to stab soldiers near the West Bank city of Hebron before he was shot and killed by forces, the military said. Palestinians say it stems from frustration at decades of occupation.

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Israeli forces have responded to demonstrations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and within Israel by using force, including live ammunition, rubber-coated steel bullets, tear gas and stun grenades. “It [the house] is not more valuable than him, Palestine, or other martyrs of Palestine”. The pair were said to have been retaliating for the terrorist murder of Malachi Rosenfeld, 25, gunned down not far from Duma, the village where the fire started by a Molotov cocktail killed Sa’ad Dawabsheh, his wife and their toddler son.

Palestinians are angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound and their attacks on Palestinian properties, saying that the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound.

Israel says home demolitions, which have come under worldwide criticism, are a way of discouraging Palestinian attacks.