Palestinian shot dead over attack in West Bank
October 26, 2015
A military statement given Monday says the victim was "severely" wounded after being stabbed in the neck. The initial police report identified the victim as a soldier, although the military has not confirmed this.
"The attacker was shot on site, resulting in his death," the statement continued.
The attack took place in the southern West Bank town of Beit Einun, near the city of Hebron where multiple similar attacks have recently occured.
A 17-year old Palestinian girl was shot and killed on Sunday in Hebron in an alleged knife attack against an Israeli border police.
Monday's attack extends a weeks-long string of assaults, largely at the hands of disaffected and unorganized Palestinian youth, that have confounded Israeli security's efforts at prevention. Many have ended in the on-site killing of the assailant, further aggravating Palestinian communities as images of the slain spread via social media.
Ten Israelis and over 50 Palestinians have been killed since the violence began to flare in early October. It was sparked by fears that Israel would overrule a decades-old agreement made over access to Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque, located on a compound deemed holy by both Jews and Mulsims.
Camera row at Al-Aqsa mosque
Also on Monday, the Islamic trust administering the mosque - Israel controls the access - accused the Israeli police of blocking its effort to install security cameras on the site.
The trust said it "severely condemns the Israeli interference" against the installation of cameras meant to "show truth and justice." Muslims are worried that Israel will increasingly allow Jews to pray at the compound in breach of the agreement, while their own access will be curtailed.
The decision to add the cameras resulted from a diplomatic meeting on Sunday between Israel and Jordan, who has pushed to ease the distrust. The technical details were still to be worked out, the Jordanian foreign minister said afterwards.
US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the cameras as a "game changer in discouraging anybody from disturbing the sanctity of the holy site." Kerry has recently joined UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in efforts to urge a calming of tensions, so far with little success.
jtm/kms (AFP, AP)