Two shot by settlers near Hebron: Palestinians
AFP
HEBRON- Two Palestinians were shot and wounded, one of them critically, in an altercation with settlers near the southern West Bank town of Hebron on Friday, Palestinian medics said.
Israeli police confirmed an incident involving Palestinians and a group of Israelis near the village of Beit Umar, north of Hebron.
"We received a report of an incident that took place there between a group of Palestinians and Israelis," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
"Apparently shots were fired as a result of the incident. One Palestinian teenager has been taken to the hospital in serious condition and the situation is continuing to be investigated."
Friday's violence came a day after settlers shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the northern West Bank town of Nablus.
The Israeli military on Friday condemned both events and said settler suspects had been arrested.
"The security forces wish to condemn the two violent incidents of the past 24 hours," said a statement from the Civil Administration, the military department charged with supervising the occupied West Bank.
"The Israeli police have started a thorough investigation of the events with the Israel Defence Forces and the Civil Administration, in cooperation with Palestinian Security forces," it said.
"So far, a number of Israeli settlers were arrested in suspicion of involvement in the recent events," it said, and warned both sides to keep the peace. "Action will be taken against all forms of violence on either side."
Palestinian medical sources named those wounded on Friday as relatives 17-year-old Yusef Ikhlil and 19-year-old Murad Ikhlil.
Yusef Ikhlil was on life support after being shot in the head, sources at Al-Ahly hospital in Hebron told AFP. Murad Ikhlil was admitted to the same hospital with a gunshot wound to an arm.
Settler sources told AFP there was an exchange of fire between Palestinians and settlers from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba after they entered Beit Umar.
They said that Palestinians began throwing stones at the settlers and shot at them, prompting the Israelis to return fire, wounding the two Palestinians.
Police could not confirm the account.
The settler group involved in the incident regularly enters Arab areas near the settlement.
Malachi Levinger, Kiryat Arba's mayor, told AFP the settlers acted in self-defence, and he stressed "the right of Jews to walk freely in their country."
Police and the Israeli military said that they deployed large numbers of forces to the scene immediately after the incident, and Israeli commanders later met local Palestinian leaders.
On Thursday, 18-year-old Uday Maher Qadous, from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin southwest of Nablus, was shot dead by a settler.
His cousin, who was with him at the time, said a group of four settlers on a nearby hilltop opened fire on them, hitting Qadous in the chest.
Israeli police said they were investigating the incident and that Qadous was shot after Palestinians began throwing stones at nearby settlers.
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"Apparently shots were fired as a result of the incident. One Palestinian teenager has been taken to the hospital in serious condition and the situation is continuing to be investigated."
Friday's violence came a day after settlers shot dead a Palestinian teenager near the northern West Bank town of Nablus.
The Israeli military on Friday condemned both events and said settler suspects had been arrested.
"The security forces wish to condemn the two violent incidents of the past 24 hours," said a statement from the Civil Administration, the military department charged with supervising the occupied West Bank.
"The Israeli police have started a thorough investigation of the events with the Israel Defence Forces and the Civil Administration, in cooperation with Palestinian Security forces," it said.
"So far, a number of Israeli settlers were arrested in suspicion of involvement in the recent events," it said, and warned both sides to keep the peace. "Action will be taken against all forms of violence on either side."
Palestinian medical sources named those wounded on Friday as relatives 17-year-old Yusef Ikhlil and 19-year-old Murad Ikhlil.
Yusef Ikhlil was on life support after being shot in the head, sources at Al-Ahly hospital in Hebron told AFP. Murad Ikhlil was admitted to the same hospital with a gunshot wound to an arm.
Settler sources told AFP there was an exchange of fire between Palestinians and settlers from the nearby settlement of Kiryat Arba after they entered Beit Umar.
They said that Palestinians began throwing stones at the settlers and shot at them, prompting the Israelis to return fire, wounding the two Palestinians.
Police could not confirm the account.
The settler group involved in the incident regularly enters Arab areas near the settlement.
Malachi Levinger, Kiryat Arba's mayor, told AFP the settlers acted in self-defence, and he stressed "the right of Jews to walk freely in their country."
Police and the Israeli military said that they deployed large numbers of forces to the scene immediately after the incident, and Israeli commanders later met local Palestinian leaders.
On Thursday, 18-year-old Uday Maher Qadous, from the Palestinian village of Iraq Burin southwest of Nablus, was shot dead by a settler.
His cousin, who was with him at the time, said a group of four settlers on a nearby hilltop opened fire on them, hitting Qadous in the chest.
Israeli police said they were investigating the incident and that Qadous was shot after Palestinians began throwing stones at nearby settlers.
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