Two Israeli soldiers killed, two injured in West Bank
TWO Israeli soldiers were killed and another two critically injured in a shooting attack, reportedly carried out by Palestinians, east of al-Bireh City in the central occupied West Bank, yesterday at noon.
Initial reports said an armed Palestinian opened fire, from a passing vehicle, targeting a group of Israeli soldiers who were setting up a flying checkpoint at the entrance of the illegal settlement of Ofra.
The official Israeli army radio station reported that a Palestinian who stepped out of his vehicle and opened fire at Israelis was shot. The attack took place near the site of a drive-by shooting on Sunday that wounded seven Israelis, including a pregnant woman whose baby was delivered prematurely and later died.
Israel sealed off major roads leading to the West Bank city of Ramallah – the Palestinians’ economic and administrative hub – and set up checkpoints in search of the gunman.
Earlier yesterday, Israeli forces shot and killed a Palestinian who carried out a stabbing attack in Jerusalem, injuring two Israeli police officers. Before dawn yesterday, Israel executed a Palestinian attack suspect inside a house in a Nablus refugee camp.
Late on Wednesday, Israeli forces also killed a Palestinian who had carried out a shooting attack earlier this week. In earlier overnight swoops in the West Bank, Israel also said its commandos had killed the Palestinian behind Sunday’s attack, as well as another wanted for an October 7 shooting at a settlement industrial park that killed a man and a woman.
The West Bank is under Israeli military occupation, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited self-rule. Israel has withdrawn its settlers and soldiers from Gaza but maintains a blockade on the coastal strip, which is now controlled by armed Islamist group Hamas.
In two other incidents yesterday, police said a Palestinian had stabbed and wounded two Israeli police troopers in East Jerusalem before being shot dead, while the army said a Palestinian driver had carried out a ramming attack in the West Bank targeting Israeli soldiers, injuring one of them. |