JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinian men were killed Sunday from gunshot wounds in two separate incidents involving Israeli security personnel, the Palestinian health ministry said. For their part, Israeli authorities sealed off the home of a Palestinian from East Jerusalem who killed seven people outside a synagogue on Friday.
This was one of the bloodiest months in the West Bank and East Jerusalem in recent years, following two Palestinian attacks on Israelis in Jerusalem. The escalation of violence threatens to further escalate tensions and cast a shadow over US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit next week.
The Palestinian ministry said an 18-year-old Palestinian who was shot by a guard near the West Bank settlement of Kedumim died on Sunday. The Israeli army said a settlement guard identified a gun-armed man outside the settlement and shot him.
The ministry also confirmed the death of a 24-year-old Palestinian injured in an Israeli army raid on Jenin on Thursday that left nine other Palestinians dead.
Earlier on Sunday, Israeli police sealed the home of a Palestinian attacker in East Jerusalem who killed seven people and injured three outside a synagogue, one of several punitive measures passed by Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet overnight. .
The Ukrainian embassy in Israel confirmed on Saturday that a Ukrainian woman was one of seven people killed outside the synagogue on Friday. The Israeli press reported that Irina Korlova, a health worker, was killed along with six Israelis in the shooting.
The weekend shootings followed an Israeli attack in the West Bank on Thursday that killed 10 Palestinians, most of them militants. In response, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, sparking a series of Israeli airstrikes. A total of 34 Palestinians have been killed in fighting this month.
In a message to the cabinet on Sunday morning, Netanyahu said that “we have sealed the home of the terrorist who carried out the heinous attack in Jerusalem, and his home will be demolished.”
“We are not looking for an escalation, but we are prepared for any scenario. Our response to terrorism is heavy-handed and a strong, rapid and accurate response,” she added.
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