JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers fired at Palestinians who were to believed to be preparing to attack Israeli cars in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the military said, and Palestinian officials said a Palestinian teenager was killed.
A military spokeswoman said members of a “terrorist squad” were hit by the gunfire but she had no details on their condition.
Palestinian health and municipal officials said Mohammad Hamdan, 16, was killed by Israeli forces and two other Palestinians were wounded. The Hamas Islamist militant group issued a statement mourning his death.
Imrad Zahran, chairman of the local council of Hamdan’s village, said the three youths were near a road used by Jewish settlers when the soldiers shot them.
The military spokeswoman said the soldiers opened fire after spotting Palestinians carrying flammable material and preparing tires which they planned to ignite and use to attack passing Israeli vehicles.
Zahran said two of the Palestinians shot by the troops were treated in Palestinian hospitals and that the military, which had taken Hamdan away, later informed him that he had died of his wounds. A Palestinian health official also said Hamdan was killed.
The military spokeswoman said the shooting occurred at a spot where similar attacks against Israeli vehicles have been carried out in the past.
Palestinians regard Jewish settlements, seen as illegal by most countries in the world, as a bid by Israel to exert permanent control over the West Bank and destroy their aspirations for statehood.
Israel has pledged to annex parts of the West Bank but suspended implementation at the United States’ request as part of a normalization deal with the United Arab Emirates last week. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East War. Palestinians seek the territory for a future state that would include the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank, military says he was planning attack
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Israeli forces kill Palestinian in West Bank, military says he was planning attack
- A military spokeswoman said members of a “terrorist squad” were hit by the gunfire
- Palestinian health and municipal officials said Mohammad Hamdan, 16, was killed by Israeli forces
Iran unrest persists, top judge warns protesters
- Demonstrations sparked by soaring inflation
- Western provinces worst affected
DUBAI: Iran’s top judge warned protesters on Wednesday there would be “no leniency for those who help the enemy against the Islamic Republic,” while accusing Israel and the US of pursuing hybrid methods to disrupt the country.
The current protests, the biggest wave of dissent in three years, began last month in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar by shopkeepers condemning the currency’s free fall.
Unrest has since spread nationwide amid deepening distress over economic hardships, including rocketing inflation driven by mismanagement and Western sanctions, and curbs on political and social freedoms.
“Following announcements by Israel and the US president, there is no excuse for those coming to the streets for riots and unrest, chief justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of Iran’s judiciary, was quoted as saying by state media.
“From now on, there will be no leniency for whoever helps the enemy against the Islamic Republic and the calm of the people,” Ejei said.
Iranian authorities have not given a death toll for protesters, but have said at least two members of the security services have died and more than a dozen have been injured.
Iran’s western provinces have witnessed the most violent protests.
“During the funeral of two people in Malekshahi on Tuesday, a number of attendees began chanting harsh, anti-system slogans,” said Iran’s Fars, news agency.
After the funeral, Fars said, “about 100 mourners went into the city and trashed three banks ... Some started shooting at the police trying to disperse them.”
The semi-official Mehr news agency said protesters stormed a food store and emptied bags of rice, which has been affected by galloping inflation that has made ordinary staples increasingly unaffordable for many Iranians.
