Israeli police shoot dead two Palestinians, aged 12 and 15

Middle East

Israeli police shoot dead two Palestinians, aged 12 and 15

Israeli security forces on Saturday shot dead two Palestinians aged 12 and 15 in protests along Gaza’s border fence, Palestinian medics said, and Israeli police said they killed three Palestinian assailants in separate violence in Jerusalem. Eleven days of bloodshed in which four Israelis and 19 Palestinians have been killed in Jerusalem, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Gaza and in Israeli cities have raised concerns about a new Palestinian uprising. On Saturday two Palestinians were shot dead by police after stabbing at least four Israelis in separate knife attacks near Jerusalem’s walled Old City, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. He said paramilitary police also killed a Palestinian militant after coming under fire from him during late-night clashes at the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem.

Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian militant group which controls the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that the Shuafat shooter was one of its members. “The hero martyr fought the Israeli occupation with language they understand,” Hamas said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he will not allow any change to the arrangements under which Jews are allowed to visit the site but non-Muslim prayer is banned. His assurances over conditions at the site, known as Temple Mount to Jews and Noble Sanctuary to Muslims, have done little to quell alarm among Muslims across the region.