Israeli army restricts access to West Bank city
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E-mail Xinhua, February 1, 2016
Israel restricted the entrance to the West Bank city of Ramallah following attacks by Palestinians from the area, the Israeli army said on Monday.
Roads surrounding the city were blocked, non-residents were barred from entering the city, and residents were not allowed to leave it, except for those carrying work permits and humanitarian cases, as well as Palestinian officials.
A military spokesperson told Xinhua that the siege on the city, implemented for the first time since the start of the current wave of violence four and a half months ago, was triggered by a Sunday shooting attack, in which three were injured near the city, at a nearby checkpoint.
The Sunday shooting, which injured three Israeli soldiers, one of them seriously, was perpetrated by Amjad Awad Abu Omar, a 34-year-old police officer in the Palestinian Authority. He wrote prior to the attack that he cannot see a way to live under Israel's occupation.
Another military official was quoted by the Ha'aretz daily as saying there are alerts of other planned attacks, which also prompted the siege.
The latest attack in a string of lone-wolf attacks occurred on Monday, when Israeli soldiers were allegedly approached by a knife wielding Palestinian in the northern West Bank. The soldiers shot and killed him, while no Israelis were injured.
The gunman was identified by Palestinian sources as Hassan Abed Altif, a 19-year-old resident of Jamal, a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank.
Twenty five Israelis and one U.S. citizen were killed in the past four months. At least 160 Palestinian were killed by Israeli fire during this period, most of whom gunned down after allegedly carrying out attacks against Israelis.
Israel accused the Palestinian Authority of incitement to violence responsible for the wave of attacks, whereas the Palestinians say the attacks come amid 49 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where they wish to establish a state.
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