PHOTO: Israeli security forces at the scene in East Jerusalem where a Palestinian man was killed on Saturday (Lior Mizrahi)


Israel’s security forces have killed ten Palestinians since Friday, amid renewed tension in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

The latest fatality was a Palestinian teenager, who was shot and killed by Israeli police near the Damascus Gate of East Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday.

Ishaq Badran, 16, from Kafr Aqab, was slain after he allegedly carrying out a stabbing attack. An Israeli police spokesperson told Ma’an that “a man was stabbed, possibly two,” before security forces arrived.

Initial Israeli reports said the victims, both Israeli, were left with light injuries.

Israeli forces dispersed crowds of Palestinians at the scene with tear gas and sound bombs. An Israeli journalist was reportedly shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet.

Seventeen Palestinians have been killed since October 1. Four Israelis, including two settlers, have been slain.

On Friday, seven Palestinians were killed and more than 60 wounded during and after demonstrations in Gaza. A 19-year-old man was shot after allegedly stabbing an Israeli border policeman in a settlement in Hebron in the West, and a 24-year-old was killed during clashes in Shufat in East Jerusalem.

The wave of violence is the most intense since July, as Israel has stepped up security operations amid stabbing incidents and protests throughout Palestine. On Friday, authorities closed the Temple Mount area, including the al-Aqsa Mosque, to Palestinian men under 50 years old.

Yesterday Amnesty International accused Israel of using “possible extrajudicial executions” against Palestinians in recent weeks as well as “excessive force on a massive scale,” including “extensive use of live ammunition against people who were not posing an imminent threat of death or serious injury”.

Meanwhile, an Israeli teenager who stabbed and injured four Palestinian workers in Dimona in southern Israel on Friday was arrested without injury.