Published: 14 April 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
The clashes came as thousands of settlers, led by ultra-nationalist cabinet members, marched in support of an evacuated outpost.
Tensions between Palestinians and the Israeli army continued to mount this week with shootings of suspected terrorists and a massive settlers’ march defended by the army.
Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli soldiers after opening fire at Elon Moreh, a settlement in the northern West Bank.
According to the army, four Palestinians shot at the direction of the settlement, when an IDF force which was nearby shot at them. Two of the suspected assailants were killed, and their bodies are being held by the army. The two others escaped and were likely wounded.
In a separate incident, a 15-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed near Jericho on Monday during a clash with the Israeli army, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.
Israeli soldiers entered Aqabat Jabr refugee camp ito arrest Palestinians suspected of planning a terror attack. Palestinian media outlets reported five people were detained during the raid.
The hunt for the terrorists responsible for the Friday shooting attack at Hamra Junction in the northern West Bank, which killed Israeli-British Efrat resident Lucy Dee and her two daughters, Maia and Rina, is still underway.
Tensions were further increased this week when thousands of Israelis, including lawmakers and cabinet ministers, participated in a right-wing march to the evacuated West Bank outpost of Evyatar on Monday to demand its reestablishment. Twenty-two Palestinian counter-demonstrators were wounded by rubber-tipped bullets fired at them by the Israeli army after the rally, and more than 100 – some of them journalists – suffered from gas inhalation, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.
Seven ministers and about 20 coalition lawmakers – including Itamar Ben-Gvir, Bezalel Smotrich, Orit Strock, Simcha Rothman and Idit Silman – took part in the trek under the protection of Israeli security forces.
