Three Palestinians shot dead after knife attacks: Israeli army

Israeli stun grenades scatter Palestinian protesters
    


By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Three Palestinians were shot dead after attacking Israeli soldiers with knives in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the military said, and an American-Israeli wounded in an attack two weeks ago died of his injuries, an Israeli hospital said.
 
Religious and political tensions over a Jerusalem site sacred to both Muslims and Jews have fuelled the worst wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence since the 2014 Gaza war.
 
The Israeli military said that soldiers had approached two Palestinians they found acting suspiciously at a junction near a Jewish settlement. When the suspects stabbed and wounded one of the soldiers, they were shot, the army said in a statement.
 
A military spokesman said they had been killed. Their families said they were 17 and 22 years old.
 
Hours later, the army said it had shot dead another Palestinian who tried to stab a soldier in the Palestinian city of Hebron.
 
Since Oct. 1, at least 59 Palestinians, 32 of whom Israel has said were armed assailants, have been shot dead by Israelis at the scene of attacks or during protests in the West Bank and in Gaza. Many of the attackers have been teenagers.
 
Many Palestinians say Israeli police and soldiers are using excessive force, while Israel says lethal force is justified against deadly threats.
 
Amnesty International said on Tuesday that it had found some of the killings of Palestinians had been unjustified, and that Israeli forces were using "extreme and unlawful measures".
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