Israeli forces kill two in West Bank clash, Palestinian stabs bus passenger

[March 31, 2022]  RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed at least two Palestinians on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in clashes that erupted during a raid in the occupied West Bank that followed deadly Arab attacks in Israel.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a passenger on an Israeli bus near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and was shot dead by another passenger, the Israeli military said.

The national ambulance service said the man who was stabbed had suffered moderate wounds.

Earlier, the Israeli military said its forces and border police entered the refugee camp in the city of Jenin to "apprehend terrorist suspects".

"During the operation, terrorists opened fire at our forces. Israeli troops returned fire that struck the gunmen. An Israeli soldier was slightly wounded," the military said in a statement.

The Palestinian health ministry said two Palestinians, aged 17 and 23, were killed in the clashes.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that "continued raids and daily killings of our people and the daily crimes by settlers will lead the region towards more tension and escalation".

A member of the Israeli forces stands guard at the scene of a stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, near Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank March 31, 2022. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma

On Tuesday, a Palestinian gunman from the Jenin area shot dead five people in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak before he was killed by police. The shooting, condemned on Tuesday by Abbas, raised to 11 the number of people killed by Arab attackers in Israel over the past week to 11.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke late on Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden. The U.S. Embassy said Biden had expressed "his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks".

Bennett has announced a series of measures to deal with what he has described as a new wave of attacks, saying more police would be put on city streets and security would be tightened in areas bordering the West Bank.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Writing by Jeffrey HellerEditing by Gareth Jones and Raissa Kasolowsky)

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