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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Haroon Siddique and Ben Quinn

Six dead as violence continues in Israel and Palestinian territories - live updates

Israeli police detain a Palestinian man suspected of stabbing an Israeli in Jerusalem on 9 October, 2015.
Israeli police detain a Palestinian man suspected of stabbing an Israeli in Jerusalem on 9 October, 2015. Photograph: Baz Ratner/Reuters

We’re pausing this blog for now but you can keep abreast of latest developments on our Israel page.

The Guardian’s graphics team have put together this map laying out the locations of the incidents at the centre of the latest tensions.

Map of recent lethal incidents in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Updated

Palestinian medical sources have provided an update on injuries, reports Rania Zabaneh of Al Jazeera.

They are said to include at least 272 wounded in the West Bank (24 by live fire) and 64 in Gaza (32 by live fire).

She adds that the latest Palestinian fatality in Gaza was Ziad Nabil Sharaf, a 20-year-old.

Updated

The death toll in Gaza has now risen to six, according to reports.

It’s a figure that’s expected to rise further however as a number of severe injuries are being dealt with, according to Belal Dabour, a Palestinian doctor in Gaza.

My colleague Mona Mahmood has been speaking to Jamal Abdu Razaq, a 30-year-old Palestinian in Hay Al-Rimal, Gaza, speaks about the situation in his town.

I did not take part in the wider demonstrations in Gaza today after Friday prayers because the situation is very risky and not the same as how the protests are treated in the West Bank. The protesters there can see the Israeli soldiers at the checkpoints but in Gaza, you can’t see any. They’re all hiding in faraway fortified sites on the border, however, but snipers are shooting people.

Though the protesters do not pose any threat to the Israeli soldiers the fire is excessive. The protests are not saying that they want to liberate their country… All they want to say is that the world has to stop Israeli tyranny, arrogance and their inhuman practices against us. I have just got back from Al-Shifa hospital, people were saying that all the injuries are in the heads. This is very risky and those who are protesting are really putting themselves at risk.

The protests now are a way of young men expressing their solidarity with the people in the West Bank, to make them feel that we are a sole country and we support them in their demand to have their rights.

No military confrontation can happen between the occupation forces and common people. The Israeli army is in panic and fires against any man they see in front of them.The martyrs would be followed by more demonstrations for sure. We hope things would not escalate to a real war.

The mounting tension has empowered hardliners on both sides, reports Peter Beaumont, the Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, who has filed a wrap up of developments here.

He observes:

The reality is that neither side appears fully in control amid “lone wolf” stabbing attacks by Palestinians and attempted lynchings by Israelis – including an incident in the seaside town of Netanya on Thursday night when a mob set on three Palestinians.

Underlining these concerns, the Israeli public security minister, Gilad Erdan, told journalists at the scene of an attack on a 15-year-old yeshiva student in Jerusalem: “Jewish terrorists are also taking part in attacks. We won’t allow anyone to take the law into their own hands.”

Palestinian anger is largely focused on events at al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City and fears that Israel is trying to change the status quo at the holy site, revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and by Jews as the Temple Mount. Netanyahu has denied wanting to change conditions under which Jews are allowed to visit the site.

Peter also has more on one of Friday’s most significant developments, the declaration by Hamas’s leader in Gaza that the current unrest in Jerusalem and the West Bank as an intifada.

A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes on the Israeli border with Eastern Gaza.
A Palestinian protester hurls stones at Israeli soldiers during clashes on the Israeli border Eastern Gaza. Photograph: Adel Hana/AP

Updated

The woman who was shot after allegedly attempting to stab a security guard in Afula, Northern Israel, is a 30-year-old resident of Nazereth who had no record of security offences or Islamist links.

That’s according the Shin Bet, as tweeted by Dan Williams of Reuters.

Some pictures are also emerging of the scene north of Jerusalem where Israeli emergency services say that stones were thrown at cars. Paramedics treated six people.

Ynetnews has more on that incident, reporting that the six included two children. All were said to be lightly injured.

Here’s another potential new flashpoint. A large Israeli military contingent is reported to be currently carrying out a search of the village of Kfar Azon in the West Bank after a Palestinian stole a soldier’s rifle amid disturbances there.

Update: Palestinian Police have reportedly tracked down the rifle and returned it.

Updated

The Palestinian news agency Ma’an says one of those shot dead by the IDF in Gaza has been identified as 15-year-old Muhammad al-Raqeb by the Gazan Health Ministry.

It also reports 20 Palestinians being treated for teargas inhalation in Nablus, in the West Bank.

The condition of the woman who was shot after allegedly attempting to stab a security guard in Afula, northern Israel, is unclear.

From the video, it looks like she may have been killed (and some Palestinian activists on social media are saying that she was) but Israeli media reports say that she suffered “moderate” injuries and that the shots were fired at her lower half.

The Israel Defence Forces said that she had been “neutralised”.

The death toll in Gaza keeps rising:

My colleague Mona Mahmood has spoken to Hadeel Tareq, a 22-year-old from Gaza who said her family took part in today’s protests, where four people have reportedly been killed [the interview was before the fourth death was confirmed] after being shot by the Israel Defence Forces. Tareq said:

My family and all our neighbours took part in the demonstrations today which marched after Friday prayers. Most of the young men went on demonstrations from all the mosques in Gaza in solidarity with the West Bank and al-Aqsa mosque and toured the streets in Gaza. Then, they headed to the nearest checkpoint of the Israeli army in a district called Nahel Auz. It is a military site ...

It was a message of protest to the Israelis in which the protesters were throwing stones at the Israeli army. There was a massive return of fire by the Israeli army, which led to the killing of three young men and 20 more injured. The ambulances are so busy in my district now transferring the victims to the hospitals in Shuja’ayia district.

The confrontations are still going on and the situation is tense. We are all in a state of alert and we expect an escalation of violence in Gaza within coming days. Last year, the war was in the west Bank but soon it reached Gaza and it was so difficult to contain it. It is not clear what the reaction will be when the martyrs are received by their families from the hospital, as most of the people are so upset now.

Fourth Palestinian killed in Gaza

The death toll in Gaza is reported to have risen to four.

Video has emerged of the moment an Israeli Arab woman who tried to stab a security guard in Afula was shot by police.

She appeared to be stationary. Her hands - at least one of which was holding something - are held up at times but she also appears to wave them about (the view is partially obscured by police officers). One reporter suggests she was speaking to someone on the phone as she was shot. Several shots were fired.

WARNING: READERS MAY FIND FOOTAGE UPSETTING

Updated

Summary

A third Palestinian has reportedly been shot dead by Israel Defence Forces in Gaza.

Updated

The female attacker at the Afula bus station was reportedly an Israeli Arab and not a Palestinian as first reported.

Two shot dead in Gaza

A second Palestinian has reportedly died after being shot by the Israel Defence Forces in Gaza:

Ahmed Herbawi, 20, from Gaza has been killed by Israeli forces during clashes on the eastern borders.

Quds newspaper is reporting violent clashes in the occupied West Bank, in al-Bireh, Hebron, Huwara, Beit El.

It is also reporting the body of Muhannad Halabi, who was shot and killed by Israeli police after he allegedly shot and killed two ultra-orthodox Jewish men in Jerusalem’s old city, has been returned to his family.

It also reports that the funeral has just been held in al-Bireh, Ramallah, and that it is the largest funeral to be held in the region this year [see pictures below].

Clashes reported in Gaza

There have also been disturbances reported in Gaza:

Updated

Hamas has said there is a new intifada taking place.

This video purports to show the aftermath of the attempted attack at a bus station in Afula, in northern Israel (see previous update).

It is the second attack in Afula in less than 24 hours. On Thursday evening, a soldier there was stabbed and his attacker captured, authorities said.

Attempted stabbing in Afula

An attempted stabbing by a Palestinian woman is reported in the northern city of Afula.

Updated

The attacker of the police officer near Hebron was killed, Israeli police say:

Haaretz reports that the two Jewish victims of stabbings today - one a boy, variously aged as 14,15 or 16, and the other a police officer - are the ninth and tenth Israelis (presumably they mean Israeli Jews) to be wounded in stabbing attacks over the past 24 hours.

Israeli police have described the assailant of the officer in Kiryat Arba as a Palestinian “terrorist”:

Updated

The picture and video below show Muslims barred from Jerusalem’s old city today (the police are only letting in men aged 45 plus and women) praying:

Updated

This is the scene of the stabbing of a Jewish youth, tweeted by Israel’s national emergency service.

Netanyahu condemns attack by Jewish teenager

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has condemned the stabbings by a Jewish teenager, his office says.

Updated

Israeli police officer stabbed

Yet another stabbing to report, I’m afraid:

The assailant was reportedly arrested.

Ynet says the Jewish youth stabbed (see previous updates) was a member of the ultra-orthodox Haredi sect.

A spokesman for Israel police says it has detained someone for the stabbing of the Jewish youth, describing it as a “confirmed terror attack”.

Updated

Jewish youth stabbed

A 14-year-old is reportedly suffering from light injuries.

Updated

The old city at the moment is under very, very high security. There have been metal detectors installed at the different old city gates. In the city at the moment, there are a lot of barriers but it’s quiet at the moment. The restrictions at the al-Aqsa mosque mean no Muslim men under the age of 45 are allowed in. Quite a lot of people haven’t been allowed to come in. Usually when security is high, violence is less likely but there’s a sense that everyone is waiting to see what will happen.

The comments coming out of the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu’s office and that of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, they have said they do not want any sort of escalation [of the violence] but it’s not completely clear they are leading the demonstrations or in control of what’s happening on the ground.

Updated

Some more updates on the stabbing:

The UK Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond has just released a statement condemning the recent violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories:

I continue to be deeply concerned by violent clashes across the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel which have resulted in a number of deaths and hundreds of injuries.

We condemn all acts of violence, including attacks by Palestinians and by Israeli settlers. We urge all sides to take immediate steps to de-escalate the tensions and avoid actions that threaten to exacerbate the situation.

“Every Israeli and Palestinian has the right to live in peace and security. We understand, and share, the deep frustration on all sides at the lack of progress on the Middle East Peace Process. The current violence underlines that a just and lasting resolution that ends the occupation and delivers peace for both Israelis and Palestinians is long overdue.

Ynet has an image of one of the victims

This is from Reuters on the stabbings:

The stabbings took place in the town of Dimona and were all were believed to have been carried out by the same suspect, police said.

“As of now there are four stabbings,” spokeswoman Luba Samri said, adding that the motive appeared to be “nationalistic”.

The first man stabbed was a municipal worker who was moderately wounded by the assailant. Another Arab was stabbed near a school, she said.

Details of the other two stabbings and the condition of the victims were not immediately clear.

The mayor of Dimona, Benny Biton, told Israel Radio the suspect was a resident of the town who was “known to police”.

Four Israelis have been killed in stabbings in Jerusalem and a drive-by shooting in the occupied West Bank since last week, and there have been several such attacks by Palestinians within Israel that caused injuries but no fatalities.

On Thursday, Jerusalem’s mayor and mayors in other cities urged residents who have gun licenses to carry their weapons with them, a call that prompted some politicians to warn against vigilantism.

The suspect arrested for the stabbings told police his victims are “terrorists”, according to Reuters reporter Luke Baker:

The number of victims of the previously reported stabbing attacks has now risen to four with the incidents said to be “nationalistically” motivated.

Another (third) person was reportedly wounded in the attacks by a Jewish suspect, reported earlier.

Updated

Jacob Burns is monitoring events in Jerusalem today for Amnesty International and has been tweeting updates (NB in the first tweet it says access is restricted to Palestinians aged 50 plus - this has now been changed to 45 plus and only applies to men):

Two Israeli Arabs stabbed

A Reuters reporter says two Israeli Arabs have been stabbed:


Haaretz reports that hundreds of right wing protesters marched through Jerusalem chanting “death to Arabs” last night, attempting to enter the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

Four were arrested during the demonstration, including Bentzi Gopstein, head of the far-right Lehava organization.

A group of demonstrators entered the Western Wall plaza and appeared to be searching for Arabs.

The Israeli website reports that the demonstration came after a day of “no less than seven lone-wolf terror attacks against Israeli Jews in Israel and the West Bank”.

Opening summary

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