Palestinians killed in West Bank amid violence surge

Clashes overnight have left several Palestinians dead in the West Bank, and Israeli police say a Palestinian stabbed and wounded two people at a checkpoint near Jerusalem before being shot.

The Magen David Adom rescue service said the two people who were stabbed were in “mild to moderate condition”.

Israeli police said the two people who were stabbed were members of the security forces.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed at least three Palestinians in two separate clashes overnight, including 13-year-old Rami Hamdan al-Halhuli, who had hurled fireworks at the paramilitary Border Police during a violent protest.

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The Palestinian Authority said he was shot dead late on Tuesday in the Shuafat refugee camp, a poor area on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Israeli police say a member of the paramilitary Border Police fired “a single shot” toward a suspect who aimed fireworks in their direction during confrontations in Shuafat. It says the suspect was “apprehended, arrested and transferred for medical treatment”.

The Border Police also said they opened fire at five Palestinians who were hurling firebombs at vehicles on a highway near Jerusalem late Tuesday. It says they were arrested and transferred for medical treatment.

Appearing to describe the same incident, the Palestinian health ministry says Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, ages 16 and 23, and wounded three in the village of al-Jib, near Jerusalem. It says they were brought to a hospital in the nearby city of Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered.

Violence has surged in the occupied West Bank since Hamas’ October 7 attack triggered the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

At least 427 Palestinians have been killed there, mostly during confrontations with Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions often soar during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began on Sunday, over access to a major holy site in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said six aid trucks entered Gaza through the north late on Tuesday as international pressure mounts for more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

A second vessel being loaded with aid for Gaza is also currently docked at Larnaca port and is preparing to depart, Cyprus’ foreign minister said on Wednesday.

The ship will begin its journey to Gaza once the ship operated by the Spanish charity Open Arms, which is now at sea, reaches the territory in the next few days and offloads and distributes its 200 tonnes of food, the minister said.

Minister Constantinos Kombos said the larger vessel will carry more aid than the Open Arms ship, but he wouldn’t say when it would depart exactly.

He said that depends on whether all goes smoothly with the delivery of the Open Arms shipment as well as on weather conditions.

Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the Hamas-led incursion into southern Israel on October 7, and around 250 people were abducted. Hamas is believed to still be holding around 100 hostages.

Gaza’s health ministry says that more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed and most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people forced from their homes.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says that women and children make up two thirds of the dead. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the United Nations.