JERUSALEM - The Israeli army said its troops fatally shot four heavily armed Palestinians on the Gaza border early Saturday, alleging one of them had crossed and thrown a grenade at soldiers. 

 

 Separately, security forces said they had arrested two Palestinians suspected of killing an off-duty Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank earlier this week. 

 

 There have been frequent clashes along the Gaza border since the Palestinians began organizing regular mass protests there in March 2018. But Saturday's exchange was unusual because of the weaponry the Israeli army said was involved on the Palestinian side. 

 

 "The terrorists were equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, RPG grenade launchers and hand grenades," an army statement said. 

 

 A spokeswoman said the army “opened fire after one of the terrorists scaled the barrier and hurled a grenade at the soldiers." 

 

 No Israeli casualties were reported.

'Uniforms'

 

 Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the four Palestinians were all wearing "uniforms" — without elaborating — and were equipped with food and a medical kit as well as the rifles. 

 

 A Hamas statement condemned Israel's killing of the four Palestinians as a "crime." 

 

 But the Islamist rulers of the Palestinian enclave made no claim of responsibility and did not say whether the four were members of its armed wing. 



Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his government's stance that Hamas is responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza. 

 

 "Israel will continue to act to thwart infiltrations of its territory and attacks on our citizens," he said in a statement.

Blockade spurs protests

 

 Palestinian demonstrations at the border demanding the lifting of Israel's blockade, in effect for more than a decade, have often led to violence and a deadly response from the Israeli army. 

 

 At least 301 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza or the border area since March 2018, the majority during the demonstrations. 

 

 Seven Israelis have also been killed. 

 

 The protests have declined in intensity in recent months following a truce brokered by the United Nations and Egypt, under which Israel agreed to ease aspects of its blockade in return for calm. 

 

 Sporadic violence has continued but the Israeli army has said most of it consisted of lone-wolf attacks. 

 

 Netanyahu is widely seen as wanting to avoid a major flare-up in the Palestinian territories as Israel prepares for a snap general election on Sept. 17, its second election this year. 

 

 But he is likely to face political pressure to act firmly against any significant attack. 

 

 Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. 

 

 On Aug. 1, a Palestinian seeking to avenge his brother's death by Israeli fire entered Israel from Gaza armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and hand grenades. He was killed and three Israeli soldiers wounded, the army said.

Soldier slain

 

 The latest killings on the Gaza border came days after off-duty soldier Dvir Sorek was found dead "with stabbing marks" near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz. 

 

 Israel's domestic intelligence agency said Saturday that two Palestinians suspected of killing him had been arrested. 

 

 "After an intensive intelligence operation by security services, the Israeli police and army arrested suspects" in his slaying, Shin Bet said in a statement. 

 

 The killing of the 19-year-old, between Bethlehem and the flashpoint city of Hebron, further hiked Israeli-Palestinian tensions ahead of the elections. 

 

 The Israeli army said separately that 100 "rioters" had attacked security forces with rocks as they apprehended "the terrorist squad" suspected of killing him. 

 

 Netanyahu commended the swift arrests. "In recent years our forces have laid hands on all of the Palestinian murderers who have attacked Israelis, and today they have done so again," he said. </s> JERUSALEM: The Israeli army said its troops shot dead four heavily armed Palestinians on the Gaza border early on Saturday (Aug 10), alleging one of them had managed to cross and throw a grenade at soldiers.

Separately, security forces said they had arrested two Palestinians suspected of killing an off-duty Israeli soldier in the occupied West Bank earlier this week.

There have been frequent clashes along the Gaza border since the Palestinians began organising regular mass protests there in March 2018.

But Saturday's exchange was unusual due to the weaponry the Israeli army said was involved on the Palestinian side.

"The terrorists were equipped with AK-47 assault rifles, RPG grenade launchers and hand grenades," an army statement said.

A spokeswoman said "the army opened fire after one of the terrorists scaled the barrier and hurled a grenade at the soldiers."

Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the four Palestinians were all wearing "uniforms" - without elaborating - and were equipped with food and a medical kit as well as the rifles.

A Hamas statement condemned Israel's killing of the four Palestinians as a "crime".

But the Islamist rulers of the Palestinian enclave made no claim of responsibility and did not say if the four were members of its armed wing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his government's stance that Hamas is responsible for all attacks emanating from Gaza.

"Israel will continue to act to thwart infiltrations of its territory and attacks on our citizens," he said in a statement.

Palestinian demonstrations at the border demanding the lifting of Israel's more than decade-old blockade have often led to violence and a deadly response from the Israeli army.

At least 301 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza or the border area since March 2018, the majority during the demonstrations.

Seven Israelis have also been killed.

The protests have declined in intensity in recent months following a UN and Egypt-brokered truce under which Israel agreed to ease aspects of its blockade in return for calm.

Sporadic violence has continued but the Israeli army has said most of it has consisted of lone-wolf attacks.

Netanyahu is widely seen as wanting to avoid a major flare-up in the Palestinian territories as Israel prepares for a snap general election on September 17, its second polls this year.

But he is likely to face political pressure to act firmly against any significant attack.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

On August 1, a Palestinian seeking to avenge his brother's death by Israeli fire entered Israel from Gaza armed with a Kalashnikov assault rifle and hand grenades. He was killed and three Israeli soldiers wounded, the army said.

The latest killings on the Gaza border came days after off-duty soldier Dvir Sorek was found dead "with stabbing marks" near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz.

Israel's domestic intelligence agency said Saturday that two Palestinians suspected of killing him had been arrested.

"After an intensive intelligence operation by security services, the Israeli police and army arrested suspects" in his murder, Shin Bet said in a statement.

The killing of the 19-year-old, between Bethlehem and the flashpoint city of Hebron, further hiked Israeli-Palestinian tensions ahead of the elections.

The Israeli army said separately that some 100 "rioters" had attacked security forces with rocks as they apprehended "the terrorist squad" suspected of killing him.

"In recent years our forces have laid hands on all of the Palestinian murderers who have attacked Israelis and today they have done so again," he said. </s> BURQIN, West Bank - Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid in the village of Burqin in the West Bank, Palestinian health officials said on Saturday.



A Reuters witness said about 200 Palestinians were throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles when a shot was heard, adding that a wounded person was then carried to a car.



Israel's military, which said it was checking the report, said its forces had been searching in Burqin for suspects involved in the fatal drive-by shooting of an Israeli rabbi from nearby Havat Gilad on January 9.



Israeli forces in the adjacent city of Jenin last month shot and killed a Palestinian gunman whom they suspected of involvement in the rabbi's shooting.



The Palestinian Health Ministry said the teenager killed on Saturday was 19 years old, while the hospital in Jenin where he was taken said he had been shot in the head.

 

 Read more </s> Israel has arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank, and a Palestinian was killed in clashes with troops, as the Israeli military pressed ahead with a crackdown after a pair of deadly shootings blamed on Hamas militants.

Israel has arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank, and a Palestinian was killed in clashes with troops, as the Israeli military pressed ahead with a crackdown after a pair of deadly shootings blamed on Hamas militants.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Mahmoud Nakhla, 18, was shot in the abdomen and died at a medical centre in Ramallah as Israeli soldiers clashed with dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank as the army intensified a crackdown a day after Palestinian assailants killed two soldiers in an attack on a bus stop.

In a fresh wave of violence, an Israeli soldier was severely wounded by a Palestinian assailant who attacked him with a rock, while Israeli soldiers clashed with Palestinian demonstrators outside Ramallah, the military said.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Jewish settlers beat up a Palestinian bus driver, the man’s family said, while Palestinian Authority forces violently broke up a demonstration by supporters of the rival Hamas movement.

The unrest came a day after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a West Bank bus stop, killing two soldiers before speeding away in a vehicle.

Israel responded by setting up checkpoints, closing roads and beefing up security in a broad manhunt for the assailant.

Earlier in the week, another Palestinian gunman carried out a similar drive-by shooting outside a nearby settlement, wounding seven people, including a pregnant woman whose baby later died after being delivered prematurely.

A Hamas official said 100 members of the group, including legislators and other senior figures, were arrested this week, including 70 arrested overnight and throughout the day on Friday. The Israeli military confirmed the overnight arrests.

As Israel was burying the soldiers killed in Thursday’s shooting, another soldier was severely wounded near a West Bank settlement after a Palestinian struck him on the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious, the military said.

The army said it appeared the soldier was also stabbed, and Israeli forces were searching for the suspect.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a group of Israelis beat up a Palestinian bus driver, Nidal Sake, near a West Bank settlement late on Thursday, Israeli police said.

Thaer Sake, the bus driver’s brother, said a group of Jewish teenagers blocked the bus with their car and forced themselves on board, striking the driver several times before fleeing.

He said his brother remained in hospital with severe bruises and a broken eye socket. Police said they were investigating and trying to find the perpetrators.

On Friday afternoon, street clashes erupted between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces outside Ramallah, with protesters slinging rocks and Israeli soldiers responding with tear gas and stun grenades to break up the crowd.

The Palestinian Healthy Ministry said two protesters were wounded by bullets, one critically.

The tensions also spilled over into internal Palestinian fighting in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron, where 50 activists waving Hamas flags in celebration of the militant group’s 31st anniversary confronted Palestinian Authority forces and blocked traffic following noon prayers.

An Associated Press cameraman saw Palestinian police harshly beat Hamas activists with clubs, injuring five and arresting 15.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and Hamas are fierce rivals. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Mr Abbas’s forces in 2007 after winning legislative elections the previous year, and attempts to reconcile have repeatedly failed.

Friday’s unrest capped a deadly week that claimed seven lives, including the Israeli baby, a 60-year-old Palestinian businessman and three Palestinian assailants, two of them members of Hamas.

The latest shootings prompted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to boost troop levels in the West Bank, order detentions of Hamas activists and call for the demolition of the homes of assailants within 48 hours.

Amid the manhunt, Israeli forces encircled Ramallah, the Palestinians’ usually quiet centre of government and commerce. To prevent what it called “copycat attacks”, the army set up checkpoints, searched cars and blocked roads in an unusual show of force that reflected the severity with which Israel views the shootings.

“Our guiding principle is that whoever attacks us and whoever tries to attack us will pay with his life,” Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Mr Abbas, meanwhile, accused Israel of creating a “climate” of violence by conducting frequent military raids in Palestinian cities. He also accused Israel of incitement against him. </s> Israel has arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank, and a Palestinian was killed in clashes with troops, as the Israeli military pressed ahead with a crackdown after a pair of deadly shootings blamed on Hamas militants.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Mahmoud Nakhla, 18, was shot in the abdomen and died at a medical centre in Ramallah as Israeli soldiers clashed with dozens of Palestinians throwing rocks.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli forces arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank as the army intensified a crackdown a day after Palestinian assailants killed two soldiers in an attack on a bus stop.

In a fresh wave of violence, an Israeli soldier was severely wounded by a Palestinian assailant who attacked him with a rock, while Israeli soldiers clashed with Palestinian demonstrators outside Ramallah, the military said.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, Jewish settlers beat up a Palestinian bus driver, the man’s family said, while Palestinian Authority forces violently broke up a demonstration by supporters of the rival Hamas movement.

The unrest came a day after a Palestinian gunman opened fire at a West Bank bus stop, killing two soldiers before speeding away in a vehicle.

Israel responded by setting up checkpoints, closing roads and beefing up security in a broad manhunt for the assailant.

Earlier in the week, another Palestinian gunman carried out a similar drive-by shooting outside a nearby settlement, wounding seven people, including a pregnant woman whose baby later died after being delivered prematurely.

A Hamas official said 100 members of the group, including legislators and other senior figures, were arrested this week, including 70 arrested overnight and throughout the day on Friday. The Israeli military confirmed the overnight arrests.

As Israel was burying the soldiers killed in Thursday’s shooting, another soldier was severely wounded near a West Bank settlement after a Palestinian struck him on the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious, the military said.

The army said it appeared the soldier was also stabbed, and Israeli forces were searching for the suspect.

Elsewhere in the West Bank, a group of Israelis beat up a Palestinian bus driver, Nidal Sake, near a West Bank settlement late on Thursday, Israeli police said.

Thaer Sake, the bus driver’s brother, said a group of Jewish teenagers blocked the bus with their car and forced themselves on board, striking the driver several times before fleeing.

He said his brother remained in hospital with severe bruises and a broken eye socket. Police said they were investigating and trying to find the perpetrators.

On Friday afternoon, street clashes erupted between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli forces outside Ramallah, with protesters slinging rocks and Israeli soldiers responding with tear gas and stun grenades to break up the crowd.

The Palestinian Healthy Ministry said two protesters were wounded by bullets, one critically.

The tensions also spilled over into internal Palestinian fighting in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron, where 50 activists waving Hamas flags in celebration of the militant group’s 31st anniversary confronted Palestinian Authority forces and blocked traffic following noon prayers.

An Associated Press cameraman saw Palestinian police harshly beat Hamas activists with clubs, injuring five and arresting 15.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement and Hamas are fierce rivals. Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from Mr Abbas’s forces in 2007 after winning legislative elections the previous year, and attempts to reconcile have repeatedly failed.

Friday’s unrest capped a deadly week that claimed seven lives, including the Israeli baby, a 60-year-old Palestinian businessman and three Palestinian assailants, two of them members of Hamas.

The latest shootings prompted Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to boost troop levels in the West Bank, order detentions of Hamas activists and call for the demolition of the homes of assailants within 48 hours.

Amid the manhunt, Israeli forces encircled Ramallah, the Palestinians’ usually quiet centre of government and commerce. To prevent what it called “copycat attacks”, the army set up checkpoints, searched cars and blocked roads in an unusual show of force that reflected the severity with which Israel views the shootings.

“Our guiding principle is that whoever attacks us and whoever tries to attack us will pay with his life,” Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Mr Abbas, meanwhile, accused Israel of creating a “climate” of violence by conducting frequent military raids in Palestinian cities. He also accused Israel of incitement against him. </s> By AFP - Dec 14,2018 - Last updated at Dec 14,2018

A Palestinian demonstrator covers her face during confrontations with Israeli forces in Ramallah, near the housing units of Beit El, in the occupied West Bank, on Thursday (AFP photo)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — A Palestinian shot dead two Israeli soldiers at a bus stop in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the Israeli forces said, sparking army raids in the city of Ramallah during which a Palestinian was killed.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to ‘legalise’ thousands of housing units considered unlawfully-built even by Israel.

The attack came hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinian murder suspects.

In total six people were killed in the most violent 24 hours to hit the West Bank and Jerusalem in months.

The Israeli forces said a Palestinian exited his car at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement in the West Bank before opening fire on soldiers and civilians.

Two soldiers were killed and at least two other people — including another soldier — were wounded, the army said, with the attacker fleeing.

“We are searching for the terrorist. We will find him,” the military said on Twitter.

Following the attack, the army raided the nearby city of Ramallah, home to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Entrances and exits to the city were sealed and the forces entered multiple neighbourhoods, AFP correspondents said.

Confrontations broke out in various spots and continued into Thursday evening.

A 60-year-old man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, in what the army said was an attempted car ramming.

The bus stop shooting came only hours after Israeli forces killed two Palestinians allegedly responsible for West Bank attacks that claimed the lives of three Israelis, including a baby.

The armed wing of Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel in Gaza since 2008, claimed the two Palestinians as its “fighters”.

One of them was Salah Barghouthi, a 29-year-old accused of shooting seven Israelis on Sunday, also at a bus stop near the Ofra settlement.

The Shin Bet Israeli internal security service said that other members of Barghouthi’s group, all of them affiliated with Hamas, had been arrested overnight.

A woman who was seven months pregnant was among those wounded in that attack.

Doctors tried to save her baby boy with an emergency caesarean but he died on Wednesday and was buried in Jerusalem.

The mother remains in hospital in a serious condition.

The other Palestinian killed by Israeli forces on Wednesday night had been suspected of shooting dead two Israelis in October.

Ashraf Naalwa, 23, was killed when forces tried to arrest him near Nablus in the West Bank, Israel’s Shin Bet security service said.

In another incident Thursday morning, a Palestinian stabbed two Israeli border guards in Jerusalem’s Old City before being shot dead.

The violence came amid heightened tensions in the West Bank, with a former head of Shin Bet’s intelligence and research division saying it appeared to be a “new front” opened by Gaza’s rulers Hamas.

While Abbas’ forces control Palestinian cities in the West Bank, some Hamas cells continue to operate.

Since Sunday’s attack, Israeli forces have made a series of incursions into central Ramallah, where Abbas’ Palestinian Authority is based.

Abbas himself condemned the anti-Israeli attacks but highlighted Israeli raids as a potential cause of anger.

“The climate created by the policy of repeated intrusions into the cities, the provocations against the sovereignty of the president and the lack of a horizon for peace are what led to this unacceptable series of violence that we condemn and reject,” he said.

Hebrew posters have been pasted in the West Bank over the past week inciting the killing of Abbas.

Speaking on Thursday evening, Netanyahu vowed to legalise “thousands” of housing units built without even Israeli permits.

All housing units are considered illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to peace, but Israel draws a distinction between those it sanctions and those constructed without permission.

“They think they can uproot us from our land, they will not succeed,” he said in a statement.

Netanyahu also said they would seek to destroy the homes of Palestinian attackers within 48 hours.

Israel seized control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war.

Around 600,000 Israelis now live in housing units there considered illegal by the international community.

Many Palestinians consider violence against Israelis in the West Bank to be a justified response to the growth of housing units on land they see as theirs. </s> Israeli soldiers and police surrounded the home of Muataz Washaha, 24, and called on him to turn himself in. Although his relatives came out of the house, he refused to leave.

After several hours of standoff, the Israeli forces knocked down part of the building with a bulldozer and opened fire. Washaha's body was found shortly afterwards.

An Israeli military statement said that Washaha had been wanted for "suspected terror activity" and that the forces, which later found an assault rifle in the house, were operating under the premise that he was armed.

Two other suspects were arrested at the scene.

A Reuters witness said that no shots were heard from inside the home before the Israeli forces opened fire. Palestinian sources said Washaha was affiliated to a small leftist faction, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The Palestinian government in the West Bank condemned the killing. "The assassination of martyr Washaha represents a new violation of human rights. Occupation forces deliberately killed martyr Washaha," it said in a statement.

Amnesty International published a report on Thursday which said Israeli forces were using excessive violence in the West Bank, killing dozens of Palestinians over the past three years in what, they said, might constitute a war crime.

The Israeli army dismissed the allegations, saying security forces had seen a substantial increase in Palestinian violence and that Amnesty had revealed a "complete lack of understanding" about the difficulties soldiers faced.

Although their decades-old conflict has become a low-intensity confrontation, violence still flares regularly, with Palestinians accounting for the vast majority of casualties.

Israel and the Palestinians resumed direct peace talks in July after a three year break. The Palestinians seek an independent state in the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 war. </s> Israeli forces arrested dozens of Hamas activists in the West Bank overnight as the army intensified a crackdown in response to a pair of deadly shootings believed to have been carried out by Hamas militants, officials said Friday.

Some 70 Hamas members, including lawmakers, were arrested this week, including about 40 overnight, said a Hamas official in the West Bank. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing arrest by Israel. The Israeli military confirmed the overnight arrests.

The arrests came as Israel's military accelerated its search for the Palestinian gunman who opened fire the day before on a West Bank bus stop, killing two soldiers. The shooting occurred just a short distance from the scene of another drive-by shooting earlier this week that wounded seven Israelis and caused the premature delivery of a baby boy that later died.

As Israel prepared to bury the two soldiers killed in Thursday's shooting, another soldier was severely wounded near a West Bank settlement after a Palestinian struck him in the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious, the military said. The army said it appeared the soldier was also stabbed. It said Israeli forces were searching for the suspect.

Thursday's shooting topped off a deadly week that claimed seven lives, including the Israeli newborn, a 60-year-old Palestinian businessman and three Palestinian assailants, two of them members of the Islamic militant Hamas group.

The latest shootings prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to beef up troop levels in the West Bank, order detentions of Hamas activists and call for demolishing the homes of assailants within 48 hours.

Amid the tense manhunt, Israeli forces encircled Ramallah, the Palestinians' typically quiet center of government and commerce. To prevent what it called "copycat attacks," the army set up checkpoints, searched cars and blocked roads in an unusual show of force that reflected the severity with which Israel views the shootings.

"Our guiding principle is that whoever attacks us and whoever tries to attack us will pay with his life," Netanyahu said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of creating a "climate" of violence by conducting frequent military raids in Palestinian cities. He also accuses Israel of incitement against him.

Israeli officials accuse Hamas of being behind the recent attacks. Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, praised Thursday's shooting and confirmed that two people killed by Israel this week were members of its military wing. But it has stopped short of claiming responsibility for their attacks.

The latest string of West Bank violence comes amid years-long diplomatic paralysis, diminishing hopes for peace and escalating Palestinian frustration with the policies of President Donald Trump, who Palestinians accuse of unfair bias toward Israel.

Peace talks have stalled throughout Netanyahu's decade-long tenure, while Israeli settlements in the West Bank have expanded, incensing Palestinians. The Palestinians seek all of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip for their future independent state. </s> Four Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in separate operations over the past 24 hours in the occupied West Bank, with the Israeli army announcing the city of Ramallah a closed military zone.

The closure was announced following a shooting attack near the illegal settlement of Ofra east of Ramallah. Two Israeli soldiers were killed by an unknown Palestinian. According to local news agencies, the Palestinian fled the scene in his car.

In a statement, the Israeli army said it is carrying out searches near the areas of the roads entering and exiting Ramallah.

The Hamas movement, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip, saluted the shooting and in a statement said it proved "resistance" was still alive in the West Bank.

"The flame of resistance in the West Bank will remain alive until the Israeli occupation is defeated from the entirety of our land, and we regain our full rights," Hamas said.

For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to legalise thousands of Jewish settlement homes in the occupied West Bank that were built without Israeli permits.

He also vowed to expedite the demolition of the Palestinian attackers' homes within 48 hours, increase detentions of Hamas members already in Israeli prisons and beef up Israeli forces in the region.

"Our guiding principle is that whoever attacks us and whoever tries to attack us - will pay with his life," he said. "Our enemies know this and we will find them."

Overnight killings

The first of the killings came overnight on Wednesday when Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in separate operations over the span of six hours. They were suspects in alleged attacks on Israelis.

In the pre-dawn hours on Thursday, Israeli forces also shot dead a Palestinian accused of killing two settlers in the West Bank last October, following a two-month manhunt.

Ashraf Naalweh, 23, was killed during the arrest raid in Askar refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Nablus Earlier, according to Palestinian security sources. The army has withheld his body.

In another overnight raid on a West Bank village, Israeli forces shot dead Salah Omar Barghouti, who was suspected to be behind a drive-by shooting on Sunday, in which seven Israeli settlers were wounded near the Ofra settlement.

Wafa said the 29-year-old Barghouti was driving his cab when Israeli soldiers opened fire at his vehicle near Surda, north of Ramallah, and that undercover Israeli forces seized his body.

Army units raided the Barghouti residence in the village of Kobar, north of Ramallah, and arrested his father and brothers, Wafa reported.

In the Old City of occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man, Majd Muteir, after he injured two Israeli police officers in an alleged stabbing attack before dawn. One of the officers was moderately injured, the other lightly.

Israeli forces prevented Palestinians from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for dawn prayers and were heavily present in the streets of the Old City.

The fourth Palestinian was killed on Thursday afternoon, after an alleged car ramming attempt on a group of soldiers in Ramallah's twin city of al-Bireh.

The man was identified as 60-year-old Hamdan Tawfiq al-Ardah.

'Serious security situation'

Speaking from West Jerusalem, Al Jazeera's Harry Fawcett said the events in the past 24 hours have been "very bloody - one that the occupied West Bank hasn't seen for a good deal of time".

"We have the pretty extraordinary circumstance of the entire city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in Area A - where Palestinian administration is supposed to have at least nominal authority - has been sealed off as a closed military zone," he added.

Regarding the alleged car ramming attack, Fawcett said that the official Palestine TV reported that "it might not have been a deliberate attack, [but] there might have been a loss of control instead."

He added, "It's certainly a very serious security situation that is still prevailing in the occupied West Bank."

A total of 56 Palestinians across the West Bank and Jerusalem were also arrested by the Israeli army early Thursday morning.

In the aftermath of the overnight killings, dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles with rocks on the busy Route 60 highway, south of Nablus.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 69 Palestinians were injured in protests against the Israeli army raids into Ramallah and various other towns and villages in the West Bank.

Undercover Israeli forces posing as Palestinians, known as Mustaribeen, were seen by locals roaming the streets of Beiteen village, northwest of Ramallah.

The closures in the West Bank has led to Fatah, the ruling party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to announce their offices will be open for those who are unable to reach their homes.

Additional reporting by Ibrahim Husseini
Israeli forces arrest two Palestinians who are suspected of having killed an Israeli soldier.