One Israeli soldier has died of his wounds and at least 11 people, including four soldiers, have been injured in an attack on a bus station in southern Israel, police said, describing the incident as a shooting and stabbing attack.
After the attack on Sunday evening, police opened fire on two people at the station in the city of Beersheba, killing an alleged Palestinian attacker and injuring a man of Eritrean origin.
It was not immediately clear whether both of those shot were involved in the attack. Israeli media reported that security forces mistook the Eritrean for an attacker and shot him. He is believed to be in a critical condition.
According to the police, the attacker stabbed a soldier and stole his weapon, opening fire on the crowds at the bus terminal. The soldier died at the hospital.
The Israeli IBA network posted footage purportedly recorded by a surveillance camera of the attack.
In other video circulated online, a man, said to be the Eritrean, is seen being kicked by several people as he lied bleeding on the ground. [The graphic footage – which could be disturbing to some viewers – can be found here
The identity of the assailant was not immediately known, and there was no claim of responsibility for the attack.
But it was praised by Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip, with Hamas calling it a “natural response” and Islamic Jihad saying it was a “normal answer to Israeli crimes”.
Sunday’s attack brings the total number of people killed in the violence that erupted at the beginning of the month to 52 – 44 Palestinian and eight Israelis.
The incident comes just a day after five Palestinians were shot dead during alleged stabbing attacks – three of them in Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians have disputed the police version of events in at least some of the cases.
Triggered by Israeli incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound last month, violence and protests against Israel’s occupation have increased in frequency across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Diplomatic moves to halt the more than two weeks of unrelenting violence has gained steam, with US Secretary of State John Kerry saying he planned to meet both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the coming days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, rejected an idea from France that would see international observers sent to the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound .
Israeli forces have responded with a crackdown on protesters, using tear gas, stun grenades, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition.
Checkpoints have been set up in the occupied East Jerusalem, where some of the attackers have come from, and about 300 soldiers on Sunday began reinforcing police.
On Sunday afternoon, Palestinians in Hebron marched from a local university to an Israeli settlement, where they were confronted by the army.
Issa Amro, director of the Youth Against Settlements group said at least ten Palestinians were arrested.
More protests were held across the West Bank, including in the city of Nablus, and in the Gaza Strip.(Aljazeera)
Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/10/israel-attack-beersheeba-151018173020191.html
20
