Israel has deployed hundreds of troops and sealed off the Hebron area after a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a family travelling in a car south of the city, killing an Israeli man and wounding three other people.
The gunman attacked the car on route 60, the main north-south road through the West Bank, close to the Jewish settlement of Otniel and the Palestinian village of Fawar.
The passengers of the car, which overturned, were believed to be members of the same family. One of them, said to be a woman in her 40s, was reportedly in critical condition. Initial reports suggested that their car was overtaken by a vehicle carrying the gunman, who then opened fire.
The attack triggered a massive manhunt by the Israeli military, which closed off the Hebron area, limiting movement for all the local population except for “humanitarian cases”.
The shooting came hours after a Palestinian woman was killed in Hebron after what border police said was an attempt to stab one of their officers at the entrance to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, or the Ibrahimi mosque. Another officer then shot her dead. Hebron, the biggest city in the southern West Bank, is a frequent flashpoint because of the proximity of settlers and Palestinians.
The woman was named as Sara al-Hajuj Atrayera, 27, from the village of Bani Na’im, and apparently from the same extended family as a 17-year-old Palestinian who on Thursday fatally stabbed Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13, a US citizen, in her home in the neighbouring settlement of Kiryat Arba. The Palestinian youth was shot dead at the scene by a security guard.
Another Palestinian woman, also from Bani Na’im, was shot dead at the entrance to Kiryat Arba last weekend after the car she was driving hit another, injuring two Israelis. And on Thursday evening a Palestinian man stabbed two Israelis in the coastal town of Netanya. The attacker, from the West Bank town of Tulkarem, was shot dead.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian man was reported to have died after clashes near the Kalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah when, according to Channel Two television, Israeli security forces sought to disperse Palestinians trying to break through to take part in the last Friday Ramadan prayers in Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque. There were conflicting reports as to whether the man died of a heart attack or choked after inhaling teargas. The Israeli military said it was investigating.
Late on Friday, Israel announced it would reduce the $130m (£98m) a month tax revenue payments it makes to the Palestinian Authority in direct response to the week’s violence. The taxes are collected by Israel on the authority’s behalf.
The office of Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said the unspecified amount the Palestinian Authority would forfeit would match the money it granted to Palestinian militants in Israeli jails and to the families of jailed or dead militants. “Incitement and payouts to terrorists and their relatives constitute an incentive to murder,” it said.
.png?w=600)
