Two Palestinians including a teenager were killed in unrest in the occupiedWest Bank on Wednesday, one of them in clashes during a visit by right-wingIsraeli politicians to a sensitive religious site.
The Palestinian health ministry said Mahdi Mohammad Hashash, 15, died of”serious wounds caused by shrapnel… during the occupation’s (Israel’s)incursion into Nablus”, the largest city in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli military said troops had been in the area to secure “theentrance of worshippers to Joseph’s Tomb”, believed to be the last restingplace of the biblical patriarch Joseph and a flashpoint for West Bankviolence.
It said “shots were heard” at the site and troops fired “towards aterrorist who placed a bomb in the area”.
“A hit was identified,” it added, without directly commenting on Hashash’sdeath.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said three others were wounded in the clashes.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, the armed wing of Palestinian presidentMahmud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement, issued a statement claiming Hashashas one of its members.
A Jewish settler organisation told AFP that eight Israeli politicians –current lawmakers and others elected on November 1 who have yet to be swornin — were visiting Joseph’s Tomb.
The group included members of veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wingLikud party and allies from the extreme right Religious Zionism bloc.
– ‘Worshippers’ –
Hours later, the ministry said Rafaat Issa, 29, had been killed “by Israelifire” in a separate incident west of the city of Jenin.
The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said Issa was shot near theIsraeli-built barrier that runs along the West Bank border.
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There was no immediate information on clashes in the area, but Palestinianshave previously been killed while trying to cross the barrier.
The army did not immediately provide information about the incident.
A surge in support for Israel’s far right in last week’s general electionsealed victory for Netanyahu over centrist incumbent Yair Lapid, settinghim up to form what may be the most right-wing government in the country’shistory.
The army declined to confirm that troops were guarding lawmakers in Nablus,identifying the group only as “worshippers”.
Hashash was buried later Wednesday, with family and friends packing theNablus morgue as the funeral procession began.
The Palestinian office of religious sites considers Joseph’s Tomb to be anIslamic archaeological monument.
The Israeli army organises monthly escorted pilgrimages to the site butprohibits civilians entering on their own.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
About 475,000 Jewish settlers currently live in the West Bank incommunities considered illegal by most of the international community,alongside some 2.9 million Palestinians.
This year is on track to be the deadliest in the territory since 2015.-APP/AFP
