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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Three Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli troops on Monday morning after they allegedly carried out two consecutive attacks near an illegal Israeli settlement in the southern occupied West Bank in which four Israeli soldiers were injured.

An Israeli army spokesperson told Ma’an that Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians after they opened fire at Israelis waiting at a bus stop near the settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron.

Witnesses said two Palestinians in a Peugeot 504 pick-up truck tried to shoot at Israelis at the bus station and that Israeli troops fired back at them, killing them immediately.

Shortly afterwards, she added, a car ran into a military vehicle in a “ram attack,” and Israeli soldiers shot and killed the driver.

The Israeli army said one soldier was wounded in the shooting attack, while two soldiers and an officer were wounded in the second altercation. She said they were evacuated to a hospital and were believed to be in moderate condition.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health identified the Palestinians as Qasem Farid Jaber and Ameer Fuad al-Junaidi from Hebron, and Yousef Mustafa Tarayra,18, from the town of Bani Naim east of Hebron.

Palestinian Red Crescent spokeswoman Errab Foqoha told Ma’an that Israeli forces barred a medical team from her organization from accessing the scene.

Several hours after the attacks, Israeli forces raided the homes of the first attackers Jaber and al-Junaidi. Forces also closed off the main entrance to Bani Naim village, where the Palestinian from the second incident lived.

Over 190 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have been killed since violence increased in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October, with a wave of small-scale attacks and attempted attacks, the majority carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military targets.
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Two Attacks Outside of Hebron Leave Four Israeli Soldiers Wounded

Two armed Palestinians killed after opening fire on Kiryat Arba bus stop, wounding 1; half an hour later, Palestinian rams car into bus, wounding officer and soldier before being shot.

Gili Cohen and Jack Khoury for Haaretz

Four Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in two separate attacks in the West Bank Monday morning. The incidents, a shooting and car-ramming, took place only minutes apart and both occurred near the settlement of Kiryat Arba, near Hebron.

All of the suspected assailants were shot dead by Israel Defense Forces, and, according to Palestinians, IDF forces raided the homes of two of them.

An initial military inquiry into the first attack concluded that a car with two armed assailants entered Kiryat Arba, stopping at a bus station, where the two opened fired on a group of soldiers waiting there, wounding one.

According to paramedics, a 20-year-old soldier suffered light wounds and received medical care at the scene before being evacuated to Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem.

The two Palestinian assailants were reportedly shot dead by other soldiers waiting at the bus stop.

The second incident, the army said, was a suspected car-ramming attack, also near the settlement of Kiryat Arba. In the incident, two Israeli soldiers, including an officer, were hurt after a Palestinian rammed his car into the bus they were on.

Other soldiers who were at the scene shot the Palestinian after he tried to exit the car; with one soldier being slightly wounded by a ricochet bullet.

All three soldiers were evacuated to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem for medical care.

Palestinians in Hebron reported later in the morning that a large military contingency had entered the city and raided the homes of two residents who are suspected of carrying out the first of the attacks.

Sources named the two as 30-year-old Qasem Abu Ouda and 22-year-old Emir Fuad al-Junaidi from Hebron. Abu Ouda served two separate sentences for activities related to Hamas. Al-Junaidi had no security-related background. The two worked together at a grocery shop in Hebron.

The alleged assailant in the car ramming was identified as 18-year-old Yousef Mustafa Tarayra, from a village near Hebron. He had no security-related background, and according to defense establishment sources, the two attacks were unrelated.

On Friday, two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in a shooting attack at a West Bank checkpoint on Route 443 near the settlement of Beit Horon.
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HEBRON (Ma’an) -- A funeral procession was held on Monday afternoon in the town of Bani Naim east of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank for an 18-year-old who was shot dead earlier on Monday during an alleged attempted vehicular attack.

The teenager, identified as Yousif Walid Tarayra, was given a military funeral by the Palestinian Authority.

PA military vehicles paraded from al-Ahli hospital to the Ras al-Jurah neighborhood. Tarayra's body was then taken to Bani Naim, the teenager's hometown, where family and friends awaited his remains.

After prayers at the town’s main mosque, mourners marched to the town’s cemetery where Tarayra was laid to rest.

Participants in the funeral shouted slogans urging Palestinian resistance to retaliate against “Israeli crimes on the Palestinian people.”

Tarayra was shot dead shortly after two other Palestinians were shot and killed after allegedly opening fire on Israeli forces waiting at a bus stop near the settlement of Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron.

The two were identified as Qasem Farid Jaber and Ameer Fuad al-Junaidi.

Several hours after the attacks, Israeli forces raided the homes of Jaber and al-Junaidi. Forces also briefly closed off the main entrance to Bani Naim village.

Over 190 Palestinians and 30 Israelis have been killed since violence increased in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in October, with a wave of small-scale attacks and attempted attacks, the majority carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military targets.