Israel shoots dead five Palestinians; clashes in West Bank

Five Palestinians have been killed attempting to attack Israelis in a string of attacks across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

They were the latest in a wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming assaults that erupted in October and came as US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power visited Israel and the Palestinian territories for talks with leaders from both sides.

In the first incident, two 15-year-olds attacked an Israeli patrol west of the city of Jenin with rocks before firing on soldiers with a rifle, an Army statement said on Sunday.

The Palestinian health ministry named those killed as Nihad Waked and Fuad Waked. They were not thought to be closely related.

Later in the day, a Palestinian tried to stab Israeli border police between Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank before being shot dead, Israeli authorities said.

Also on Sunday, a young Palestinian woman tried to stab an Israeli policeman but was shot in the attempt in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli police said.

She was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Tensions are high at the site — a 17-year-old Palestinian was shot dead in a stabbing attempt there on Saturday.

Late on Sunday violence also flared in central Jerusalem when two armed Palestinians attacked Israeli police just outside the Old City walls before being shot dead by officers, the police said.

A police statement later said that one was spotted carrying a bag in a way that made officers suspicious and when they ordered him to drop it he pulled out a weapon and took aim, but was shot dead before he could pull the trigger.

A second gunman then opened fire but was killed by police without wounding any officers, it said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian youth clashed with Israeli soldiers who raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Monday, leaving dozens shot and wounded.

The Palestinian health ministry said 28 people were shot, including one in the head, during clashes in Al-Amari camp at the entrance to the West Bank city of Ramallah.

A squad of around 25 Israeli soldiers arrived in the camp, located on the edge of the city where the Palestinian Authority has its headquarters, early on Monday morning.

Palestinian security sources said the Army tried to arrest an official from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.