Palestinian health officials said Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, and police said a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli in Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said that its soldiers were attempting to intercept a car whose passengers had entered Israel “illegally.” The soldiers “shot toward the car” after the vehicle fled and struck a soldier, according to the report.
One of the passengers died in a Palestinian hospital, according to medical officials. The man was shot on his way to work, according to his father, according to Palestinian Qudsnet news.
In a separate incident in the West Bank, an Israeli defence source reported that a Palestinian driver smashed his car into a manned guard booth.
Israeli police claimed to have shot and “neutralised” a Palestinian who had attacked and critically injured an Israeli in Jerusalem. In a video uploaded on social media, an armed police officer stood over the suspected attacker. He was discovered injured in a playground where children were playing soccer.
Following a crackdown by Israeli authorities in late March in response to a spate of attacks by Palestinians in Israel, violence in the West Bank has recently intensified, occasionally spilling over into Jerusalem.
As a result of peace talks brokered by the US that broke down in 2014 and have not yet recovered, a Palestinian state would be founded in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza.
Israel will choose a new prime minister on November 1. Yair Lapid, who endorsed a two-state solution with the Palestinians in September, will confront former hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has shifted his position on the issue.