Israeli, Palestinian hurt amid rise in violence

[March 25, 2011]  JERUSALEM (AP) -- A Palestinian was shot and wounded by Israeli police Friday after he injured a soldier in the West Bank, police said, the latest incident amid a spike in violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the Palestinian attacked an Israeli soldier with a stone at a bus stop early Friday, inflicting a serious head wound. Police who arrived at the scene shot and wounded the Palestinian.

Both men were treated at the scene and then evacuated to an Israeli hospital, Rosenfeld said.

A Palestinian security official in the West Bank identified the wounded Palestinian as a man from the city of Nablus. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with Palestinian security regulations, said the details of the shooting were unclear.

Friday's violence came after several weeks of increased tensions. A bombing on Wednesday killed a British tourist in Jerusalem, and earlier this month five members of an Israeli family were slain while they slept in a West Bank settlement. Both attacks appeared to be the work of Palestinian militants.

Also this week, Israeli shelling killed three children and their uncle in Gaza as militants in the Hamas-ruled territory ratcheted up their rocket fire into Israel. The army said it was targeting militants.

Referring to the Jerusalem attack and the increased rocket fire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday that his country "will not tolerate such wanton attacks on its civilians, and we stand ready to act with great force and great determination to put a stop to them."

Netanyahu spoke ahead of a meeting with visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

[Associated Press]

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