Israeli troops kill 2 Palestinians as clashes escalate
JERUSALEM — Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians and wounded a third after the men opened fire on a base in the occupied West Bank on Friday, the latest in a series of violent confrontations amid soaring tensions in Jerusalem.
Dozens of Palestinians in an east Jerusalem neighborhood are at risk of being evicted following a long legal battle with Israeli settlers, and Palestinian protesters have clashed with Israeli police in the city on a nightly basis since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Later Friday, Palestinian worshipers clashed with Israeli police at AlAqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said 136 people were wounded there and elsewhere in Jerusalem, including 83 who were hospitalized. It says most were wounded in the face and eyes by rubbercoated bullets and shrapnel from stun grenades.
The unrest has drawn attention from across the region, with neighboring Jordan warning Israel against further “provocative” steps, and Iran seizing on the sensitivities around Jerusalem and encouraging the violence.
Israeli police said three attackers fired on the base near the northern West Bank town of Jenin. The Border Police and an Israeli soldier returned fire, killing two of the men and wounding the third.
Israelis and Palestinians are bracing for more violence in the coming days.
Sunday night is “Laylat alQadr” or the “Night of Destiny,” the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Worshipers will gather for nighttime prayers at the AlAqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, a flashpoint site sacred to both Muslims and Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.
Sunday night is also the start of Jerusalem Day, a na
tional holiday in which Israel celebrates its annexation of east Jerusalem and religious nationalists hold parades and other celebrations in the city. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a verdict on the evictions.
This year, Ramadan has coincided with an increase in IsraeliPalestinian violence focused on Jerusalem, where Palestinian protesters have
repeatedly clashed with Israeli police over restrictions on gatherings at the Damascus Gate leading into the Old City.
In recent days, protesters have scuffled with police and settlers over the threatened eviction of dozens of Palestinians in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in east Jerusalem.