Israeli Troops Kill 3 Palestinian Militants in West Bank After Rise in Attacks

JERUSALEM — Israeli safety forces killed three Palestinian militants within the occupied West Financial institution early Saturday morning, as they continued to scale up their operations in response to a wave of terrorist assaults in Israel.

The Israeli police stated in a press release that the militants had been intercepted whereas driving by means of the northern West Financial institution, after the authorities acquired a tip that they had been about to hold out an assault. The three males had been killed in a subsequent shootout that additionally left 4 Israeli troopers wounded, the police stated. The Islamic Jihad militant group later confirmed that three of its members had been killed by Israeli safety forces on Saturday morning, nevertheless it didn’t touch upon the claims a few potential assault.

The episode brings the variety of Palestinians killed in Israeli army operations within the West Financial institution this week to at the very least six. Three others had been killed on Thursday morning throughout an Israeli raid in Jenin, a metropolis within the northern West Financial institution, Palestinian well being officers stated.

Israel safety forces have bolstered their presence throughout Israel and the occupied territories since a Palestinian gunman killed 5 folks in Bnei Brak, a metropolis in central Israel, on Tuesday. That was the most recent in a string of terrorist assaults in Israel that killed 11 folks since March 22.

The military has despatched a number of additional battalions to the West Financial institution, referred to as up reservists and posted reinforcements alongside the boundary between Israel and Gaza. The police stated that they had turned their focus nearly solely to counterterrorism operations whereas scaling up their presence on the streets.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett additionally referred to as on Israeli civilians with licensed firearms to hold their weapons with them in public.

The measures replicate the heightened sense of tension in Israel after three unusually brazen and lethal assaults, in three Israeli cities which have not often been on the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian battle.

Final week, earlier than the assault in Bnei Brak, an Arab citizen of Israel stabbed three folks and rammed one other along with his car, killing all 4, in Beersheba, a quiet metropolis in southern Israel. Days later, two different Arab residents of Israel shot lifeless two policemen in Hadera, a metropolis on the Mediterranean coast. Unusually, the Islamic State claimed duty for that assault.

Officers and analysts concern that the violence might escalate within the coming weeks, when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started on Saturday, will overlap with Passover and Easter for the primary time in a number of years.

The festivals are anticipated to compound tensions within the Previous Metropolis of Jerusalem, the place entry to and management over a holy web site sacred to each Jews and Muslims — identified to Jews as Temple Mount and to Muslims because the Noble Sanctuary — has lengthy been on the coronary heart of the Israeli-Palestinian battle.

Hamas, the Islamist militant group that holds sway within the Gaza Strip, warned in a press release Friday evening that Israel would face “penalties” if it allowed Israeli troops or Jewish worshipers to enter the Aqsa Mosque compound on high of Temple Mount. It didn’t specify what these penalties can be.

Tensions over the mosque — coupled with Israeli efforts to evict Palestinians from a strategic space of the town — prompted Hamas to fireside a number of rockets towards Jerusalem from Gaza in Might, setting off an 11-day warfare. However Israeli officers imagine that Hamas is most probably cautious of immediately organizing assaults from Gaza, as a result of the group doesn’t need to danger one other full-scale escalation in Gaza so quickly after the final warfare.

In an indication of de-escalation, Palestinian political teams in Gaza on Wednesday determined towards commemorating Land Day, a serious anniversary within the Palestinian calendar, with a protest close to the boundary between Gaza and Israel. They as a substitute gathered on the coast, lowering the danger of a confrontation with Israeli border guards.

Prayers on Friday evening and Saturday morning at Al Aqsa Mosque additionally handed with out incident.

Iyad Abuheweila contributed reporting from Gaza Metropolis.