At least two Palestinians dead in new West Bank violence

Soldiers shot dead a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, hours after a knife attack in east Jerusalem left an Israeli man in a serious condition.

The Palestinian health ministry said Rabi Arafah Rabi, 32, was hit by “a bullet to the head” at a checkpoint south-east of the city of Qalqilya.

An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers fired on a car containing three suspects near Qalqilya as the vehicle sped off after hitting a soldier when they tried to stop it for inspection.

“The soldiers fired toward the vehicle,” the spokesman said.

“The soldier did not need medical treatment. We are aware of reports regarding a hit. The incident is under review.”

The Israeli army said on Sunday morning that nine Palestinians had been arrested in overnight raids.

The latest violence comes after a week of bloody incidents including the shooting of four people in the Jenin refugee camp during an Israeli army raid on Friday, which led to the death of a Palestinian teenager.

In Nablus, around 50 kilometres north of Jerusalem, there have also been nightly Israeli army raids against a new coalition of militant groups who call themselves Lion’s Den.

On Sunday morning, the group said one of its commanders had been killed by a bomb attached to his motorbike by a “collaborator”.

Earlier on Saturday, police said officers “neutralised” a Palestinian stabbing suspect in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem after an attack that left an Israeli man in serious condition.

Police said the man was stabbed in the back.

Israeli media said the stabbing victim was a religious Jew in his 20s.

“His condition is serious but stable,” said Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tsedek hospital.

“The suspect stabbed a passer-by with a knife and fled” the scene north of the Old City, police said.

They said the suspect, who is 16, was later found at a football pitch in the Sheikh Jarrah district of east Jerusalem, not far from the scene of the stabbing.

Police said he tried to run off when he saw officers coming, but an officer gave chase.

At one stage he turned to the police officer “with an object in his hand, the officer feared for his life … shot at him and neutralised” him.

A Palestinian witness told Israeli publication Haaretz that the man was unarmed when shot, and had refused an Israeli order to lie on the ground. Police later said that raids had been carried out on the suspect’s home in the Shuafat refugee camp.

The suspect’s condition is not known but police said they had detained both his father and his brother for questioning.

More than 115 Palestinian fighters and civilians have been killed this year, the heaviest toll in the West Bank for nearly seven years, according to the United Nations.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognised by most of the international community.

Some 200,000 Israelis live in the sector as well as 300,000 Palestinians.

Around 475,000 Israelis now live in settlements across the West Bank, alongside some 2.8 million Palestinians, who in different areas of the territory are subject to Israeli military rule or live under limited Palestinian governance.

On Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said a Palestinian was killed overnight in clashes with soldiers in the flashpoint West Bank city of Jenin, and three other Palestinians were wounded in the clashes.

Agencies contributed to this report.

Updated: October 23, 2022, 5:49 AM