Israeli police arrest nine in east Jerusalem unrest
A Palestinian youth wearing a mask helps another to fit his headdress in Al-Aroub refugee camp, north of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron on Thursday
Jerusalem – Israeli police said Thursday that they had arrested nine Palestinians during overnight clashes in east Jerusalem, with tensions surging in the city and across the occupied West Bank.
Palestinians launched a rare general strike Wednesday in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, including closing shops, in response to a days-long operation by Israeli security forces in the Shuafat Palestinian refugee camp.
Israel is searching the camp for the suspected killer of 18-year-old Israeli soldier Noa Lazar.
With the manhunt ongoing and clashes persisting, Israeli police said they had arrested Palestinians who were “throwing stones and Molotov cocktails and attacking officers.”
Munib al-Qutob, an emergency worker, told AFP that there had been “lots of injuries from rubber bullets and tear gas inhalation.”
A masked Palestinian in Shuafat, who asked that his name be withheld, told AFP that Israeli forces were “full of anger because they can’t capture him,” referring to the 22-year-old Palestinian suspect.
Police said the Issawiya and Silwan neighbourhoods of east Jerusalem also saw overnight clashes, with two officers slightly injured.
Israel annexed east Jerusalem following the 1967 Six Day War, a move not recognised by most of the international community.
Clashes between security forces and Palestinians in the area are common.
But with violence rising, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was scheduled to hold an east Jerusalem assessment later Thursday with top security chiefs, his office said.
Bloodshed is also spiralling in the West Bank, where Israeli forces are conducting near daily raids pursuing suspects they accuse of involvement in deadly attacks on Israelis.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, including fighters and civilians, in an escalation that began in March.