Palestinian teen wounds 2, day after 7 killed in Jerusalem

By ISABEL DEBRE (Related Press)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has introduced a collection of punitive steps in opposition to the Palestinians in response to a pair of shootings in Jerusalem that killed seven Israelis and badly wounded 5 others.

The steps, introduced late Saturday, embody new strikes to “strengthen” Jewish settlements, his workplace stated.

The choice got here forward of a go to by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Biden administration opposes Israeli settlement development within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem — territories claimed by the Palestinians for a future state.

Netanyahu’s Safety Cupboard accredited the measures within the wake of a pair of shootings — together with an assault exterior an east Jerusalem synagogue on Friday night time through which seven individuals have been killed.

Netanyahu’s workplace stated the Safety Cupboard agreed to seal off the attacker’s dwelling in preparation forward of its demolition.

It additionally plans to cancel social safety and well being advantages for the households of attackers, make it simpler for Israelis to acquire weapons and step up efforts to gather unlawful weapons.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows under.

JERUSALEM (AP) — A 13-year-old Palestinian boy opened hearth in east Jerusalem on Saturday, wounding two Israelis, officers stated, a day after one other attacker killed seven exterior a synagogue within the deadliest assault within the metropolis since 2008.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his Safety Cupboard late Saturday to debate the burst of violence — which adopted a lethal Israeli navy raid within the West Financial institution, a barrage of rocket hearth from the Gaza Strip and a collection of Israeli airstrikes within the blockaded territory. He was anticipated to announce a collection of punitive measures in opposition to the Palestinians later within the night.

Because the assembly started, he stated his authorities’s response could be “sturdy, swift, and exact.”,

He vowed to expedite procedures to seal off and destroy attackers’ houses, make it simpler for Israeli civilians to acquire weapons permits and to punish the households of Palestinian attackers by taking away their social safety and well being advantages.

“We’re not on the lookout for escalation, however we’re ready for any state of affairs,” he stated.

Saturday’s capturing within the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem, close to the historic Previous Metropolis, wounded a father and son, ages 47 and 23, paramedics stated. Each have been totally aware and in reasonable to critical situation within the hospital, the medics added.

As police rushed to the scene, two passers-by with licensed weapons shot and overpowered the 13-year-old attacker, police stated. Police confiscated his handgun and took the wounded teen to a hospital.

Video confirmed police escorting the boy, carrying nothing however underwear, away from the scene and onto a stretcher, his palms cuffed behind his again. Authorities taped off the road, emergency automobiles and safety forces swarmed the world and helicopters whirled overhead.

“He waited to ambush civilians on the holy Sabbath day,” Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne instructed The Related Press, including that {the teenager} opened hearth on a gaggle of 5 civilians. Safety footage confirmed the victims to be observant Jews, carrying skullcaps and tzitzit, or knotted ritual tassels.

Saturday’s occasions — on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s arrival within the area — raised the opportunity of even better conflagration in one of many bloodiest months in Israel and the occupied West Financial institution in a number of years.

On Friday, a Palestinian gunman killed at the least seven individuals, together with a 70-year-old lady, in a Jewish settlement in east Jerusalem, an space captured by Israel in 1967 and later annexed in a transfer not internationally acknowledged.

Authorities printed the names of 4 of the victims. They included 14-year-old Asher Natan; Eli Mizrahi, 48, and his spouse Natali, 45. The fourth sufferer was Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56. Funerals for the victims have been scheduled Saturday night time.

The assaults pose pivotal check for Israel’s new far-right authorities. Its firebrand minister of nationwide safety, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has introduced himself as an enforcer of legislation and order and grabbed headlines for his guarantees to take even stronger motion in opposition to the Palestinians.

Chatting with reporters at a hospital the place victims have been being handled, Ben-Gvir stated he needed the house of the gunman in Friday’s assault to be sealed off instantly as a punitive measure, lashing out at Israel’s lawyer common for delaying his order.

She “is just not permitting us to seal the home. In my view that is terrible. In my view, it could’t be like that,” he stated of the highest prosecutor.

He additionally referred to as for demolishing dozens of Palestinian houses that Israel says have been illegally in-built east Jerusalem, granting extra gun licenses to Israelis, and making use of the dying penalty to Palestinians convicted of killing Israelis.

Overhauling the justice system within the nation, together with the lawyer common’s workplace, has been on the prime of the agenda of the brand new authorities, which says unelected judges and jurists have overwhelming powers. The divisive challenge helped gas weekly protests by Israelis who say the sweeping proposed adjustments would weaken the Supreme Court docket and undermine democracy.

Tens of 1000’s of protesters gathered within the central metropolis of Tel Aviv Saturday night for a brand new protest, waving Israeli flags. Some raised banners describing Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and different members of the federal government as “a menace to world’s peace.”

The marchers additionally held a second of silence in reminiscence of Jerusalem capturing victims.

In an preliminary response to Friday’s capturing, Isareli forces fanned out within the neighborhood of the 21-year-old Palestinian gunman, who was shot and killed on the scene. Police arrested 42 of his members of the family and neighbors for questioning within the A-Tur neighborhood.

The Israeli military stated it had deployed one other battalion to the West Financial institution on Saturday, including lots of extra troops to a presence already on heightened alert within the occupied territory.

Within the Jenin refugee camp, the positioning of a lethal Israeli navy raid on Thursday that sparked the newest escalation, footage confirmed Palestinians dancing and cheering in celebration of Saturday’s capturing. Palestinian detainees who celebrated in jail after Friday’s assault have been positioned in solitary confinement, the Israeli jail service stated.

The Palestinian management within the West Financial institution, in the meantime, upheld its determination to halt safety coordination with Israel to protest the lethal raid in Jenin. After a gathering headed by President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority referred to as on worldwide group and the U.S. administration to oblige Israel into stopping its raids and operations within the West Financial institution.

The sooner Friday assault got here a day after an Israeli navy raid killed 9 Palestinians within the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp within the West Financial institution that prompted a rocket barrage from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.

Thursday’s raid, deadliest single incursion within the West Financial institution since 2002, adopted a very bloody month that noticed at the least 30 Palestinians — militants and civilians — killed in in confrontations with Israelis within the West Financial institution and east Jerusalem, in response to a tally by the AP.

Final yr, because the Israeli navy intensified its arrest raids following a string of lethal Palestinian assaults inside Israel, at the least 150 Palestinians have been killed within the occupied West Financial institution and east Jerusalem. It was the best annual dying toll for greater than a decade and a half. Over 30 individuals have been killed in Palestinian assaults in opposition to Israelis final yr, in response to Israeli figures.

Israel says a lot of the lifeless have been militants. However youths protesting the incursions and others not concerned within the confrontations even have been killed.

The Israeli navy contends its raids are supposed to dismantle militant networks and thwart assaults. However Palestinians say they additional entrench Israel’s 55-year, open-ended occupation of the West Financial institution, captured together with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip within the 1967 Mideast battle.

The Palestinians demand east Jerusalem because the capital of a future impartial state, and far of the world considers it illegally occupied. Israel claims as its united, sovereign capital. Palestinians additionally say the constructing of Jewish settlements in these territories threatens the prospect of a viable, contiguous future state.

Dwelling to the shrines of all three main monotheistic religions, the contested capital been the centerpiece of spiking tensions between Israelis and Palestinians for years.

Each Palestinian attackers behind the shootings on Friday and Saturday got here from east Jerusalem. Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem maintain everlasting residency standing, permitting them to work and transfer freely all through Israel, however they undergo from subpar public providers and aren’t allowed to vote in nationwide elections.

Residency rights could be stripped if a Palestinian is discovered to dwell exterior the town for an prolonged interval or in sure safety instances.