Iran Press/ Middle East: Palestinian authorities have condemned recent remarks by the Zionist regime Prime Minister Naftali Bennet regarding the ongoing violence in the occupied West Bank, stressing they are a green light for killing Palestinians.
Mohammed Zakarneh, 17, was shot on Sunday as the Zionist regime forces were targeting relatives of Raad Hazem, the 28-year-old man from Jenin who on Thursday killed three Israelis in Tel Aviv before he was shot dead following a large manhunt.
The Zionist army said it had demanded that the father of Hazem hand himself in, ahead of the planned demolition of the family home, a punitive measure that human rights groups like B’Tselem say is tantamount to collective punishment.
The merciless army said it engaged in an exchange of gunfire involving the assailant’s family members, and its forces had returned fire after they were shot at from a motorcycle during the incident. According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the teenager was unarmed and was shot as he returned home to break his fast after work.
On Monday, the Zionist forces launched a third day of operations around Jenin following heavy gun battles in recent days and 20 arrests overnight, the army said.
At least 14 Zionist occupiers have been killed in a spree of attacks by Palestinian assailants over the past three weeks. The Zionist regime premier has said the Jewish state was now “on the offensive”. Since March 22, at least 14 Palestinians have been killed, including assailants, according to a count by the news agency AFP.
Four Palestinians, including Zakarneh, were killed in separate incidents across the occupied Palestinian territories on Sunday and Monday.
The cities of Jenin and Bethlehem declared general strikes, with stores shutting down for much of the day. Two of those killed were from the Bethlehem area, one of whom the army said was shot dead after hurling a Molotov cocktail at its troops.
The Zionist regime army said its forces opened fire at a man – 21-year-old Muhammad Ali Ahmed Ghoneim – who was throwing a firebomb at an Israeli vehicle driving on a West Bank highway late Sunday. The other was an unarmed woman who was shot and killed at a military checkpoint near Bethlehem.
The European Union’s diplomatic mission to the Palestinian territory accused Tel Aviv of using unacceptable excessive force in fatally shooting the unarmed woman.
“This incident must be swiftly investigated and the perpetrators be brought to justice,” it wrote on Twitter.
Another woman was killed in al Khalil; the Zionist regime army said she had stabbed and lightly wounded a policeman before being shot dead.
In Jenin on Monday, thousands of mourners flooded the streets for the funerals of those killed, many carrying Palestinian flags or rifles.
Tensions have surged during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, nearly a year after violence flared in the Gaza Strip, leading to 11 days of bombardment of the besieged strip.
Separately, the Zionist regime plans to build a 40-kilometer barrier to the northern part of the West Bank from the Salem area in the northern West Bank to the Bat Hefer region in the coming weeks. It is to replace a fence built 20 years ago during the second Palestinian uprising that now has large holes in it, according to media reports.
The Zionist regime's security cabinet approved a sum equivalent to about $111m, Bennett’s office said on Sunday. The wall will be up to 9 meters high and will have security technology.
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