Ramallah, Palestinian Territories: Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, before a suspected car-ramming attacker was killed after seriously wounding a woman, Israeli medics and the army said.
The army confirmed its troops had fired on protestors who allegedly attacked soldiers in two separate West Bank clashes overnight.
The 20-year-old woman was in “severe condition” with a head injury following the suspected car-ramming north of Jerusalem, medics said. Jerusalem’s Shaare Tzedek hospital confirmed the alleged attacker had been killed.
The West Bank has suffered spiralling violence this year, with near-daily Israeli army raids leading to scores of deaths — of Palestinian fighters and also civilians.
In Kafr Ein, near Ramallah, two brothers were killed by Israeli fire, the Palestinian health ministry said.
A third man died of bullet wounds to the head fired by Israeli troops in Beit Ummar, near the flashpoint city of Hebron, the ministry said.
Commenting on the Beit Ummar clash, the Israeli army said it had opened fire on “rioters” who “hurled rocks and improvised explosive devices at the soldiers” after two vehicles got
stuck during an “operation patrol” in the area.
Palestinian official news agency Wafa named the dead man as Mufid Mahmud Khalil, 44, from the Beit Ummar area.
The health ministry identified the dead in Kafr Ein as brothers Jawad Abdulrahman Rimawi, 22, and Dhafer Abdul Rahman Rimawi, 21.
The Israeli army said “a violent riot was instigated by a number of suspects,” during “routine” overnight activity in the Kafr Ein area.
“The suspects hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails toward the soldiers, who responded with riot dispersal means and live fire,” an army statement said, adding that the military was
“aware” of reports of two fatalities.
“The incident is under review,” the army said.
Palestinian Authority civil affairs minister Hussein Al Sheikh described the killing of the two
brothers as an “execution in cold blood”.
Near the West Bank settlement of Migron, the army reported “a ramming attack”.
The Magen David Adom emergency response agency said its staff treated “a 20-year-old female injured in a car-ramming attack with a head injury in severe condition,” and took her to Shaare Tzedek hospital.
There was no immediate word on the woman’s identity.
