Description

Photo:
Site of the car-ramming attack in West Bank village, Beit Umar near Hebron, November 27.Credit: Courtesy, Hatzala
_____

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian suspect was shot and killed on Friday after a vehicle attack in Beit Ummar which left six Israeli soldiers injured, Israel's army and locals said.

An Israeli army spokesperson said that six Israeli soldiers were injured in a "car ramming" in Beit Ummar north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, with the Palestinian suspect shot and killed.

The area was closed off following the attack, Israeli police said.

Locals identified the victim as Omar Arafat Issa al-Zaaqiq, 19.

Four soldiers were moderately injured and two suffered light injuries. Israeli media later reported five total injuries, four moderate and one light.

Earlier, Fadi Muhammad Mahmoud Khasib, 25, from Ramallah was shot and killed by an Israeli settler northeast of Jerusalem after a vehicle attack near the Kfar Adumim settlement, which left two soldiers injured.

Fadi's brother, Shadi, was shot dead on Sunday by an Israeli settler near the scene of Friday's incident by the illegal Kafr Adumim settlement.

At least 101 Palestinians have been killed since the start of last month, more than 20 of whom were children and over 40 of whom were from the Hebron district where Beit Ummar is located.

The majority were killed during attempted, alleged, and actual attacks on Israeli military and civilians.

Nineteen Israelis have been killed in attacks during the same time period.

The Hebron area has repeatedly been put on lockdown by the Israeli military following such attacks, and Palestinian residents have reported increased levels of overnight search and arrest raids, road closures, and invasive security checks.

Over 1,000 work permits for Hebron Palestinians working in Israel were frozen by Israeli authorities, and expected to come as a severe blow to the livelihoods of workers' families.

Israeli daily Haaretz reported Friday that the Israeli military may consider launching increased large-scale operations in the district, including curfews, if violence continues to intensify.

Right-wing elements of the Israeli government have reportedly called for the implementation of actions similar to those taken during "Operation Defensive Shield," which took place in the West Bank in 2002 during the Second Intifada, according to the news report.

The operation -- which Israeli authorities at the time said was necessary to stop attacks -- left nearly 500 Palestinians dead and thousands detained.

Violence that appeared to escalate at the beginning of last month has continued full-fledged through November, with 13 Palestinians and two Israelis killed in the last week alone.

Around a third of Palestinians killed this week were shot by Israeli forces during clashes and overnight search raids.

______

Attacker shot on scene, succumbs to wounds; Of the victims, four moderately wounded, one lightly so.

by Chaim Levinson and Gili Cohen for Haaretz

Five soldiers were wounded in a car-ramming attack near Hebron early Friday afternoon, initial reports indicate. The attacker was shot on scene, and succumbed to his wounds shortly thereafter.

The attack took place off of Route 60 in the village of Beit Umar, MDA spokesperson Zakai Heller explained. Medics and paramedics arrived on scene to provide the army with treatment assiatance. Initial reports indicate of the five victims who sustains wounds to their limbs, four were moderately wounded, and one lightly so. The youngest victim is suspected to be 20-years-old.

The victims were evacuated to Shaarei Zedek Medical Center and Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

The attack comes just hours after a car-ramming attack in the West Bank settlement of Kfar Adumim, that left two soldiers in their early 20s wounded, one moderately, one lightly. This is the fourth attack this week.
. . .