Israeli forces on Saturday blocked exits from the southern West Bank city of Hebron as they launched a manhunt for assailants after shooting incidents targeting Jewish worshippers and a soldier.
Two Israeli teenagers were on Friday shot and wounded at the flashpoint site known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, the army said.
About 4,000 Jewish worshipers were visiting Hebron on Friday and Saturday as part of a religious pilgrimage centered on the biblical matriarch Sarah, who according to tradition was buried in a field that eventually became part of the city Hebron.
A soldier was also shot and wounded on Friday near the Palestinian village of Beit Anon north of Hebron.
The Israel Security Agency, also known by the two-letter Hebrew abbreviation Shin Bet, said they had arrested a 16-year-old Palestinian from the Bani Naim village east of Hebron, who admitted carrying out the Beit Anon shooting and handed over the rifle he used.
On Saturday, army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told reporters there was “ongoing activity to locate the perpetrators of yesterday’s attacks.”
Israeli forces were searching Palestinian homes in and around Hebron, as well as setting up new checkpoints, a reporter said.
The army also blocked off the northern entrance of Hebron with mounds of dirt. The eastern entrance has been sealed off for days.
Youth against Settlements group activists in Hebron said they were “besieged” in their Hebron office by settlers accompanied by soldiers.
Palestinian TV journalists also said “settlers” disrupted their broadcasts, following which Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in downtown Hebron, a reporter said.
Two Palestinians were wounded by live fire, Palestinian medics said.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem on Friday criticized the army of carrying out “immoral and unlawful” measures, which it said hinder Palestinian freedom of movement in Hebron, including closing off the Tel Rumeida neighborhood.
“These steps constitute collective punishment of residents of Hebron, who are suspected of nothing and are forced to suffer serious disruptions in their daily lives,” the group said.
Hebron has 200,000 Palestinian residents, with approximately 500 Israeli settlers living in the center protected by an army-patrolled buffer zone. The situation is a constant source of tension.
Friday’s unrest broke a brief lull in the wave of deadly attacks and violent protests throughout last month that raised fears of a new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against Israeli occupation.
Most of it had occurred in and around Hebron and mainly involved Palestinian stabbing attacks.
There were no clashes or attacks in the city on Saturday as troops searched for the assailants.
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