Two lifeless as violence in Jerusalem, West Financial institution simmers

A Palestinian motorist has rammed his automobile into a bunch of troopers within the occupied West Financial institution, the Israeli army says, wounding three earlier than one other opened hearth on the driver, who the Palestinian well being ministry says was killed.

A Palestinian official stated the 23-year-old was a member of the Palestinian safety forces.

In Jerusalem, a person detained by Israeli police close to a flashpoint holy website grabbed an officer’s gun and fired it, prompting the unit to shoot him lifeless, the drive stated – an account doubted by Arab leaders and probed by authorities.

The Jerusalem incident in a single day on the fringe of the Al Aqsa Mosque advanced, an icon of Palestinian nationalism, got here at a excessive level of Muslim attendance for the holy month of Ramadan amid heightened fears of an escalation in violence.

Israeli-Palestinian tensions are simmering after months of violence in areas of Jerusalem and the West Financial institution.

Friction at Al Aqsa has set off violence in recent times.

Nonetheless, the sacred website, identified to Muslims because the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, remained comparatively quiet on Saturday.

The slain man was recognized as Mohammad Khaled al-Osaib, 26, a resident of the Bedouin city Hura in south Israel.

Mansour Abbas, an MP whose United Arab Checklist occasion is well-liked there, stated the person was a medical scholar.

Abbas questioned the police account.

“All we demand is the reality,” he stated.

The Justice Ministry division for investigating police conduct is trying into the incident, a consultant stated, including the process was not a proper investigation.

Requested if the Israeli unit’s response was attributable to allegations of misconduct, she stated: “There are such claims and that is why we’re trying into it.”

Reuters couldn’t instantly confirm the police account.

Police stated the incident happened at a spot not coated by safety cameras.

Footage of comparable incidents prior to now has normally surfaced inside a short while.

Police launched CCTV footage exhibiting an individual they stated was al-Osaib strolling throughout the advanced alone earlier than the incident.

A police consultant stated the incident occurred in “seconds” and denied experiences al-Osaib had intervened in an altercation with a feminine worshipper.

Israel’s far-right Nationwide Safety Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stated he backed the officers.

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