Israeli forces on Sunday hunted a Palestinian man suspected of killing an Israeli soldier in an armed attack in East Jerusalem the day before, amid an increase in violence in recent months.
Soldier Noa Lazar, 18, who served with the military police, died from gunshot wounds inflicted on Saturday night in the attack on the Shuafat checkpoint, a Palestinian refugee camp in East Jerusalem, an area occupied and annexed by Israel.
Read alsoOne Israeli soldier killed in Jerusalem, two Palestinians in Jenin
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid pledged Sundayto bring those responsible for this heinous crime to justice“.”Terrorism will not win, we are strong despite this difficult nighthe added as the young woman’s funeral is scheduled for Monday evening after the start of the Jewish holiday Sukkot.
Another 30-year-old Israeli man was shot and seriously injured in the head in the attack and was taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, the facility said. Two border police officers were slightly injured by “shardssaid the police.
Israeli police say the attacker is a 22-year-old Palestinian living in East Jerusalem. He was driven to the checkpoint by an accomplice and opened fire on officers on duty before fleeing to the camp.
After a night of tension in Jerusalem, Israeli police arrested four Palestinians on Sunday suspected of “being involved in the attackand whose detention was extended by a week.
Israeli forces have blocked access to the camp, where they continue to track the suspect despite rocks being thrown at them by young Palestinians, according to witnesses and police who said they were using “riot guns“.
Multiplication of voltages
The Palestinian Red Crescent said its rescuers were blocked from entering the area by Israeli security forces. Israeli human rights group HaMoked urged authorities to allow local residents to movewho need to go home, to work, to school or to the hospital“.
Earlier Saturday, two Palestinian teenagers identified as Ahmad Daraghmeh, 16, and Mahmoud al-Sousse, 18, were shot dead in another Israeli army attack in Jenin, a stronghold of Palestinian armed factions in the northern occupied West Bank, where soldiers were murdered. . attempt to arrest a suspected member of Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian group.
After deadly anti-Israel attacks in March and April, the military has stepped up operations and arrests in the West Bank — Palestinian territory occupied by the Jewish state since 1967 — especially in the Jenin and Nablus areas.
These Israeli raids, often interspersed with clashes with the Palestinian population, killed more than 100 Palestinians, the highest toll in the West Bank in nearly seven years, according to the UN.
“I am alarmed by the deterioration of the security situation and the escalation of armed clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in the West Bankand in East Jerusalem, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland commented on Saturday.
Facing violence in the West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority called on the United States to “stepping up pressure on Israel to end all-out war against the Palestinian people“.
Israeli operationswill lead to an explosion and a point of no return, with devastating consequences for everyone“Warned Nabil Abou Roudeina, spokesman for President Abbas.