News / Palestine

Israeli forces shoot dead three people in West Bank

Friday, 16 September 2016 12:43 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 16 September 2016 6:24 PM ]

Israeli policemen stand close to a black Mitsubishi pickup truck following an alleged car-ramming attack at the entrance to the illegal settlement of Kiryat Arba in the southern part of the occupied West Bank on September 16, 2016. (Photo by Ma'an)

Israeli military forces have fatally shot three people in the occupied West Bank, alleging that they had attempted to carry out car-ramming and stabbing attacks.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Israeli soldiers opened fire from close range at a pickup truck near the entrance to the illegal Kiryat Arba settlement, located on the outskirts of al-Khalil (Hebron), on Friday afternoon, killing a man and wounding a woman on board, Arabic-language Ma’an news agency reported.

Israeli media outlets later claimed that the unarmed couple had rammed the car into a bus stop at the Elias Junction outside the entrance to Kiryat Arba. Three people purportedly sustained injuries in the alleged attack carried out by the Palestinian.

The development came shortly after the Israeli forces shot and killed a young man, who was reported to be a Jordanian national, at the Damascus Gate to the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds.

The Israeli police said they saw the 28-year-old man coming towards them with a knife drawn, and opened fire.

Israeli forensic policemen gather around the body of a man, who was shot dead following an alleged stabbing attack at the entrance to the Old City of Jerusalem al-Quds on September 16, 2016.(Photo by AFP)

The alleged assailant, whose name has yet to be released, was carrying a Jordanian passport, but Israeli officials are reportedly investigating whether he held a Palestinian ID card too.

The Israeli military said its troops also shot dead another Palestinian, who it alleged stabbed and injured an Israeli soldier in al-Khalil.

On Thursday, 30-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Abed al-Fattah al-Sarrahin succumbed to gunshot wounds he had sustained earlier in the day, when Israeli forces raided Beit Ula town, located 10 kilometers northwest of al-Khalil.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

More than 240 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of last October.

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