A Palestinian gunman, his rifle wrapped in a prayer mat, walked to a West Bank checkpoint near Bethlehem and killed two Israelis at close range yesterday, just a day after both sides hinted a progress toward a truce and a quick Israel-Palestinian summit.
In a separate incident, Israeli soldiers raiding a refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, shot and wounded seven Palestinians, and demolished three homes, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.
The continued violence threatened to undermine renewed efforts by the new Palestinian government of Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie to negotiate a truce with militant groups.
PHOTO: AFP
"It looks like we've returned to what was, and that the declarations of the truce were too soon," Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said on Army Radio of the shooting.
He said Israel would hold the Palestinian Authority responsible.
The shootings occurred at the entrance to a highway outside the village of El Khader, not far from Bethlehem, the source said.
Army Radio said the shootings appeared to be the work of a lone Palestinian gunman who hid a Kalashnikov rifle in a blanket, so that soldiers would not detect it. He managed to flee the scene into nearby El Khader.
Soldiers clamped a curfew on the village of El Khader and launched house-to-house searches for the assailants, the Israeli army and witnesses said. Witnesses said at least three Palestinians were arrested, and that troops fired tear gas to disperse schoolchildren who threw stones at the soldiers while setting out to school.
Israeli officials reacted angrily to the shootings.
"This morning's attack proves that the Palestinian terror industry continues to flourish," David Baker, an official in Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said.
In the Gaza Strip, Israeli soldiers raided a refugee camp in the Rafah area, in a "preventive" operation, an Israeli army spokesman said and declined to elaborate.
Palestinian medics said soldiers shot and wounded seven Palestinians, and that three were listed in serious condition.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was