A teenager has been killed and more than 200 Palestinians injured as clashes with Israeli forces and settlers continued in the occupied West Bank.
\nThe violence followed Israel’s decision to bar Palestinians from accessing Jerusalem’s Old City unless they were residents, a move Hamas called “racist and illegal”.
\nIsraeli forces used live ammunition and rubber-coated steel bullets against Palestinian protesters during Sunday’s clashes, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said.
\nHuthaifa Suleiman, an 18-year-old Palestinian who was shot by Israeli forces during clashes at the Tulkarm checkpoint for throwing fire bombs, later died of his wounds.
\nThe PRCS said almost 400 people have been injured, including 150 suffering from bullet wounds.
\nMore than 200 have been treated for the effects of tear gas, it said.
\nClashes took place in areas including Jenin in the occupied West Bank and the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Issawiya.
\nThe PRCS has declared a state of emergency in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in response to what it said were “attacks by occupation forces and settlers”.
\nAmbulances operated by the organisation were attacked by Israeli soldiers on Friday and Sunday, and five of its paramedics have been assaulted by troops, the PRCS said in a statement released on its website on Sunday.
\n“[The] PRCS underlines that these practices constitute a blatant violation of key IHL [international humanitarian law] provisions, mainly the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the protection of civilians in time of war,” the statement read.
\nMeanwhile, Israeli local media reported that a 30-year-old Israeli was stabbed by two masked men in the southern Israeli port and resort town of Eilat early on Monday.
\nThe Israeli army also said in a statement that rockets fired from the besieged Gaza Strip had hit southern Israel, with no injuries reported.
\nIsrael said it had launched an air strike targeting northern Gaza in response.<\/p>\n
Funerals of stabbing victims <\/strong> ‘Sharpen our measures’<\/strong> Source: Aljazeera<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A teenager has been killed and more than 200 Palestinians injured as clashes with Israeli forces and settlers continued in the occupied West Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nAs clashes continued, thousands of people attended the funerals of two Israelis stabbed to death on Saturday by a Palestinian man in Jerusalem’s Old City.
\nThe wife of one of the victims was seriously wounded in the attack while their two-year-old child sustained light injuries.
\nIsrael’s President Reuven Rivlin urged Israelis in his eulogy on Sunday not to be afraid to visit the Western Wall, where Jews pray, close to where the attack took place.
\nIn a separate incident early on Sunday, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a passer-by in West Jerusalem, before being shot dead by police while fleeing.
\nIsraeli TV showed footage of the alleged assailant walking along the city’s light rail tracks as bystanders screamed, “Shoot him!”
\nIn the video, a police car arrives on the scene, multiple gunshots are heard, and the attacker is then seen lying on the ground.
\nAn Israeli couple were killed on Thursday when they were shot in their car in front of their four children in a West Bank attack allegedly carried out by a Palestinian.<\/p>\n
\nThe violence has raised fears of further military action by Israel.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held consultations with his security chiefs on Sunday, and his security cabinet is also to meet on Monday.
\nIsraeli Intelligence Minister Israel Katz threatened to launch new military operations against Palestinians, telling Israel’s military broadcaster the country would “sharpen” the measures it took.
\nIsrael has banned West Bank Palestinians from entering Jerusalem’s Old City for the next two days.
\nThe restrictions on the Old City in the occupied East Jerusalem only allow access to Israelis, tourists, residents of the area, business owners, and students, police said.
\nWorship at the sensitive al-Aqsa Mosque compound will be restricted to Old City residents and Palestinian Israelis, and limited to men aged 50 and above.
\nThe latest violence comes amid high tensions in Jerusalem after clashes between police and Palestinians at the compound – Islam’s third holiest site.
\nThe US state department condemned the violence on Saturday, with spokesman John Kirby calling “on all sides to take affirmative steps to restore calm and avoid escalating the situation”.
\nUN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday warned of a dangerous escalation in Jerusalem and the West Bank following the attacks and appealed for calm.
\nIn a statement on Sunday, Ban “urged all leaders to condemn violence and incitement, maintain calm and to do everything they can to avoid further escalation”.<\/p>\n