Three Palestinians were shot dead yesterday, two while carrying out attacks and a third in clashes, the latest in a more than four months of violence.
In the first attack, a man stabbed and wounded two policemen outside Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate before they shot him dead.
“A fighter attacked a squad of officers from behind, stabbed and wounded them lightly, the squad responded with fire and neutralised the fighter,” police said.
Police confirmed the death of the assailant and identified him as a 20-year-old Palestinian from Kafr Aqeb.
A spokeswoman for the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem said they had admitted two men in their 20s suffering from stab wounds, and both were in a stable condition.
Medics said they also treated a 50-year-old woman for a light leg wound, apparently as a result of the shooting, before evacuating her to a hospital in east Jerusalem.
The site of the attack, in annexed east Jerusalem and adjacent to its Old City, has been a focal point in the latest wave of violence.
Later yesterday, a Palestinian tried to run over Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank and was shot dead, the army said.
“During a violent riot in Silwad, northeast of Ramallah, an assailant attempted to ram his vehicle into soldiers,” an army statement said, referring to an area in the northern West Bank.
“The soldiers responded to the immediate threat and fired towards the assailant, resulting in his death.”
Palestinian police sources identified the man as Raed Hamed, 20.
Later, a third Palestinian died after being shot during clashes with Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. A Palestinian health ministry statement said Khaled Taqatqa, 21, was shot dead by Israeli forces in Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem in the southern West Bank.
The army said he had fired on soldiers.
Ten Palestinians were also injured in separate clashes on the Gaza-Israel border, the health ministry said. Since October 1, Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks have taken the lives of 27 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count.
At the same time, 175 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations.
Some analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.
International efforts to halt the violence have so far failed.
Nickolay Mladenov, UN special co-ordinator for the Middle East peace process, said the violence showed “no sign of relenting”.