One Israeli killed and three wounded in West Bank attack

Palestinian attackers stabbed an Israeli to death and wounded three more in the West Bank on Tuesday before being shot by troops in the latest violence to rock the occupied territory, the Israeli military said.

The attack follows a spate of settler attacks on Palestinians across the West Bank.

The Israeli military said the ramming and stabbing attack took place at the busy Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem, a site of many past attacks by Palestinian militants.

Israel’s emergency rescue services said a 71-year-old man died of stab wounds at the scene. Three other people were taken to hospital, including a woman in a serious condition and a teenager in a moderate condition.

The military said Israeli troops then opened fire, killing two Palestinian attackers. The Palestinian Health Ministry later identified them as two 18-year-olds from the Hebron area.

Yaron Rosenthal, head of the regional council in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, demanded Israel respond to the attack and provide more support for the area’s Israeli settlements.

“Terrorism is fuelled by the hope of a state,” he said, connecting the violence to the Palestinian Authority and the re-emerging push to advance efforts to secure Palestinian statehood.

Hamas did not claim responsibility for the attack, but in a statement called it “a normal response to the occupation’s attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause”, vowing that Israeli aggression would not go unchallenged.

Also Tuesday, Al Jazeera’s local bureau chief, Walid al-Omari, said Israeli forces shot a cameraman for Al Jazeera, Fady Yassin, in both legs while he was covering a protest in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. The military did not respond to a request for comment.

Tulkarem has been a flashpoint throughout the year, with Israeli forces frequently carrying out incursions around the Nur Shams refugee camp, which they say is home to many militants.

Civilians say the area has endured repeated raids, sieges and home demolitions, prompting regular protests by Palestinians angry about operations pushing people from their homes

An Associated Press journalist saw soldiers fire into the air to disperse protesters and then shoot toward Mr Yassin as he moved toward the camp entrance to film. The journalist later saw Mr Yassin on the ground, injured and surrounded by Palestinians, including women and children before he was carried by bystanders to an ambulance.

The violence came a day after the UN Security Council gave its backing to US President Donald Trump’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza. Hamas rejected the plan.

Settler violence has flared in the West Bank. In the latest attack on Monday, Israeli settlers rampaged through the Palestinian village of al-Jab’a, torching homes and cars. The violence drew a rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top leaders.

Israel’s military sent soldiers and police to the village on Monday after reports of fires and vandalism.

Hours earlier, clashes erupted between Israeli security forces and settlers defending an unauthorised outpost on a nearby hill facing evacuation and demolition on Monday, according to Cogat, the Israeli military body that deals with civilians in the West Bank.

Israeli police said earlier that six suspects were arrested in confrontations during the demolitions, with dozens of settlers entrenched and throwing stones and metal bars and burning tyres.

Mr Netanyahu on Tuesday applauded the United Nations’ approval of the Trump administration’s blueprint to secure and govern Gaza, while Hamas rejected the plan as a foreign instrument of control.

The resolution that passed the UN Security Council on Monday authorises an international stabilisation force to provide security in war-devastated Gaza, approves a transitional authority called the Board of Peace to be overseen by President Donald Trump and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.