Jenin, Palestinian Territories: Israeli security forces on Thursday raided a West Bank town after three deadly attacks rocked the Jewish state in a week, with two Palestinians shot dead and a third killed after he allegedly launched a knife attack on a bus.
The violence comes after a Palestinian armed with an M-16 assault rifle killed five Israeli civilians in the streets of Bnei Brak, an Orthodox Jewish city near Tel Aviv, on Tuesday night. That shooting took to 11 the number of people killed in the week of violence carried out by Israeli Arabs and Palestinians, days before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins.
The latest bloodshed erupted on Thursday morning when the Israeli army said its soldiers returned fire after being shot at during an operation to arrest suspects in the West Bank city of Jenin. “During the activity, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the troops. IDF troops responded with fire,” the army said in a statement, adding that one soldier was hospitalised. The Palestinian health ministry said “the Israeli occupation forces” killed two Palestinians, both males aged 17 and 23, in Jenin and another 15 were wounded.