Israelis kill two more Palestinians in West Bank

Israeli forces and settlers have killed two more Palestinians in the West Bank, in their latest acts of aggression in the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to Israeli media reports, the first incident took place on Sunday at the Huwarra checkpoint, south of the city of Nablus, when an Israeli settler ran over, shot and killed a Palestinian teenage girl, Ashraqat Taha Ahmad Qatanani, over claims that she was about to carry out a stabbing attack, Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported.

Israeli news site, Ynet, identified the man as Gershon Mesika, a local leader within an Israeli settler community. He reportedly got out of his car and opened fire, alongside Israeli forces, on the 16-year-old girl after hitting her by his vehicle.

In a separate incident, an Israeli killed a Palestinian man in the West Bank after it was alleged that the man driving a taxi tried to slam into people and attack them with a knife.

"A Palestinian man at Kfar Adumim junction in a Palestinian taxi tried to run over civilians. When he failed he exited the car with a knife and attempted to stab," an Israeli statement said, adding that the man “was shot by a civilian and died of his wounds.”

Tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories have dramatically escalated over the past weeks.

The Israeli regime imposed restrictions in August on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of al-Aqsa. They are also angry at Israeli settlers who, escorted by the military forces, have stepped up raids on the sensitive site, which is Islam’s third holiest site after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

Last month, senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, called the recent spate of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in the West Bank and East al-Quds an Intifada (uprising) against the Tel Aviv regime.

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