After a period of relative calm, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reignited, leaving five people dead and several others injured in 48 hours.
A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli soldier Saturday morning in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to the Israeli army. Israeli forces responded by shooting the man dead. The stabbed solider is undergoing treatment.
Israeli soldiers on Friday shot and killed a Jordanian citizen after he attempted a stabbing attack against Israeli police officers outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, a flashpoint for violence, according to the Israeli military. The man was reportedly carrying three knives. No officers were injured and an investigation is underway, Israeli authorities said.
The same day, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man after he struck and injured three Israeli civilians with his vehicle at the entrance of the Kiryat Arba settlement in the West Bank. The incident was a ramming attack, according to the Israeli military.
The driver’s wife, who was in the car, was critically injured in the shooting.
Hours after the incident at Kirya Arba, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who stabbed a soldier in Tel Rumeida, an agricultural and residential area in Hebron, according to the Israeli military.
The Israeli soldier’s wounds are not life-threatening, according to military officials.
Friday’s events followed an incident the day before, when Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian man as he fled a military raid in the village of Beit Ula, near Hebron.
The man was one of two people sought for suspected criminal offenses, according to the Israeli military.
Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi blasted the recent killings.
“Israel is flagrantly employing a systematic and willful policy of summary executions against the Palestinian people; such provocative acts are in direct violation of international law and conventions,” Ashrawi said in a statement.
The tumultuous day ended a period of relative calm after months of protests and violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
That violence, which ignited in October 2015, saw 212 Palestinians and 33 Israelis killed, according to Reuters.
Israeli officials contend that at least 141 of the Palestinians killed were attackers, though Palestinians dispute that figure.
Israel has blamed the violence on incitement by Palestinian leaders and contends that it has no partner in peace.
Palestinian leaders charge that the violence is a result of collapsed peace talks, Israel’s ongoing military occupation of the West Bank and its expansion of settlements on land Palestinians claim as part of their future state.