LIVE BLOG: The Third Intifada - the unrest continues
Here's a summary of the latest developments as Israeli-Palestinians tensions rise:
- On Saturday three Palestinian teenagers, incluing one woman, were shot dead in theree separate incidents after reportedly attempting to stab Israelis in Hebron and East Jerusalem.
- Early Friday, hundreds of Palestinian youths attacked a site in Nablus - the exact target of the attack remains disputed
- A Palestinian man was shot dead in Hebron after stabbing and wounding an Israeli police officer
- Three Palestinian protesters shot dead by Israeli soldiers - two at the Gaza border and one in Nablus - with clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces also reported in East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron. Another Palestinian who was shot in Gaza protests last week has died of his wounds.
- UN Security Council scheduled to hold an emergency meeting at 1500 GMT to discuss the upsurge of violence
- Israeli forces shot and injured three Palestinian protesters with live fire the central occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Friday, while one young man was shot with a rubber-coated steel bullet in his eye and is in moderate to serious condition.
Live Updates
Israeli forces on Saturday detained the parents and two brothers of a Palestinian teen killed by Israeli forces earlier in the day in East Jerusalem.
Locals told Ma'an News that masked Israeli soldiers, intelligence, and special forces raided the home of 16-year-old Muataz Uweisat who had allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli policeman in the East Talpiot settlement.
The forces stood on rooftops, held residents, and prevented locals from approaching the house during the raid carried out in the Jabal al-Mukabbir neighborhood.
Witnesses said that Israeli forces searched the home and took photos before detaining four members of the Uweisat family.
Speculation has been raised regarding the alleged involvement of Fadel al Qawasmeh in an attack in Hebron Saturday after video footage captured following his death reportedly shows Israeli soldiers handing off an object and placing it by his body.
Observers have alleged that the object is believed to be a knife planted on the scene.
The allegations have not yet been confirmed.
A Palestinian woman who allegedly attempted to stab a female Israeli soldier in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday was shot dead by the Israeli soldier, Israeli police said.
The soldier was guarding the settler enclave in the heart of the city, where some 500 Jews live under heavy protection surrounded by nearly 200,000 Palestinians. She suffered minor injuries to her hand, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
This is the second incident in Hebron after 18-year-old Fadel al Qawasmeh was shot dead early Satruday morning.
Three residents of Ramle, Israel were arrested after a gun was found in a car crossing the Trans-Samaria Highway, reported Haaretz on Saturday.
The woman shot dead in Hebron on Saturday after allegedly trying to stab a female Israeli soldier has been identified as 17-year-old Bayan al-Esseili.
A photo taken by activists in Hebron shows Esseili lying lifeless after being shot dead.
Mufid Sharbati, a Hebron resident and eyewitness to the shooting and killing of Palestinian teen Fadel al Qawasmeh on Saturday morning was detained by Israeli forces hours after the incident.
Israeli forces raided Sharbati's home and confiscated a laptop, a video camera, and a photo camera, reported Ma'an News agency.
Israeli forces also detained the media coordinator of Youth Against Settlements, Ahmad Amr, hours after the group released video footage captured directly after an Israeli settler shot dead Qawasmeh in Hebron.
The Youth Against Settlement group told Ma'an that that photographers in the group had documented the shooting and killing of 18-year-old Qawasmeh.
The footage which showed the Israeli soldiers laying what is believed to be a knife on Qawasmeh's dead body raised speculations about the authenticity of the claims made against the teen.
Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli military forces clashed on Saturday shortly after three Palestinians were killed during reported stabbing attacks.
Clashes erupted between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces at the entrance of Shuhada Street and the Bab al-Zawiya area in central Hebron after an Israeli settler shot and killed Fadil Qawasmi.
Dozens of Palestinian youths threw rocks at Israeli soldiers who responded with rubber-coated steel bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas bombs, reported Ma'an News.
Bayan al-Esseil, 17, was also killed in the Hebron area on Saturday after stabbing an Israeli border police woman in the hand.
The Fatah movement in Hebron declared a day of mourning and several shop owners closed their shops in honor of those killed.
Meanwhile in the Gaza Strip, a march set off from Al-Quds Open University in the Wadi Abu Kteila area in north Gaza.
The march, organised by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, ended at the Erez crossing where Palestinians and Israeli forces clashed.
US President Barack Obama expressed concern Friday about the outbreak of violence centered in Jerusalem and called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to tamp down inflammatory rhetoric.
"We are very concerned about the outbreak of violence," Obama said at a news conference with visiting South Korean President Park Geun-Hye.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms violence directed against innocent people, and believe that Israel has a right to maintain basic law and order and protect its citizens from knife attacks, and violence on the streets," he added.
"We also believe that it's important for both Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Israeli elected officials, and President Abbas and other people in positions of power, to try to tamp down rhetoric that may feed violence or anger or misunderstanding," he said.
A Palestinian woman has reportedly been shot by Israeli soldiers in Hebron.
Issam Bakr from the Popular Resistance Committees involved in today's demonstrations in Ramallah told Middle East Eye that the protests would continue until their demands were met.
“This day of popular anger is to remind the world that the Palestinian people have a right to continue this form of resistance, it is also expressing our anger against the Israeli policies in the al-Aqsa Mosque and al-Quds [Jerusalem], which have left no other option for the Palestinians but to continue resisting these Israeli decisions," he said.
"This spark will not stop, and these youths will continue to protest all across Palestine refusing to negotiate until all of our national objectives are met."
David Roet, Israel's ambassador to the UN, told a meeting of the UN security council that he was dismayed that there was “no call for the Palestinian leadership to stop their incitement.”
Israelis “fear for the lives of their children every time they walk out of their door," he said.
"This tide of terror has washed over the entire nation and spares no-one."
He called for support for the “silent victims of Palestinian terror" and said that Israel was "taking every necessary means to defend its citizens and is responding proportionately to these attacks.”
He accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of spreading "lies" about the Al-Aqsa mosque/Temple Mount.
"Palestinian leaders have repeated this outlandish conspiracy theory over and over again," he said, referring to accusations that Israel was looking to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.
“Palestinian leaders are determined to erase Jewish history and deny any connection between the Jewish people and our holiest site," he added, citing the allged attack on Joseph’s Tomb in the West Bank as a “desecration and a blatant violation of freedom of worship.”
However, he said that Israel would "not agree to any international presence on the Temple Mount” saying it would be a violation of the status quo.
He said that only "direction negotiation" could lead to a lasting peace.
A video produced by the Euro-Mediterranean Observer for Human Rights Monitor documents the abuses reportedly carried out by the Israeli government against Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza since the beginning of violence clashes in September:
Samantha Power, US's UN ambassador, has urged both sides to end escalations and called for calm.
In comments made to the UN Security Council, Power said that mistrust was being "exacerbated" by images being shared on social media.
She said that the US was committed to retaining the status quo at al-Aqsa mosque, known as Temple Mount to Jews.
US President Barack Obama will now visit the region at the "appropriate" moment, she added.
