Palestinian Teen Killed After Stabbing Israeli Girl In Hebron

The mother of Israeli girl, Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13, who was killed in a Palestinian stabbing attack in her home in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, mourns during her daughter's funeral at a cemetery in the West Bank city of Hebron June 30, 2016. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

A Palestinian fatally stabbed a 13-year-old Israeli girl in her bedroom in a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the military said, as international sponsors of frozen peace talks prepared to issue a report on the impasse, Reuters reported.

A Palestinian teenager was killed on Thursday morning in an Israeli settlement in the southern occupied West Bank after carrying out an attack against a 13-year-old Israeli girl who later succumbed to her wounds.

 

13566001_1092398064165195_185398853_n

Israeli guards in the settlement of Kiryat Arba shot the attacker dead and one member of the civilian armed response team was wounded, a military spokesman and a settler leader said, outskirts of the city of Hebron, where he attacked an Israeli teenage girl, who was later identified by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office as 13-year-old Hallel Yafa Ariel, in her bedroom.

The spokesperson said that the Palestinian was then shot and killed, and that “two civilians” had been wounded and evacuated to the hospital. She added that the Israeli army was looking into the case.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health later identified the killed Palestinian as 17-year-old Muhammad Nasser Tarayra, from the village of Bani Naim.

A statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s office on Thursday afternoon announced that the decision had been made to “cordon off” Tarayra’s hometown Bani Naim, and that work permits of Tarayra’s family members would be revoked. The statement added that procedures to demolish Tarayra’s family’s home were already under way.

An Israeli army spokesperson said they were looking into whether Bani Naim had already been sealed off by Israeli forces.

Israel’s punitive policies against Palestinian communities in the wake of attacks have been repeatedly condemned by human rights groups, who point out that such punitive measures constitute “collective punishment” and “court-sanctioned revenge” in clear violation of international law.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killing of Hallel.
“I expect the Palestinian leadership to clearly and unequivocally condemn this vicious murder and take immediate action to stop the incitement,” Netanyahu said in a statement.

The assailant was identified as a 17-year-old male from a nearby Palestinian village. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his home would be destroyed and permits enabling his relatives to work in Israel revoked.
Netanyahu, in a statement, called on Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack and take immediate steps to stop what he described as incitement that Israel has cited as a main factor behind a string of assaults over the last nine months.

“The horrific murder of an innocent girl in her bed sheds light on the bloodlust and lack of humanity displayed by the terrorists we are facing,” he said.

Malachi Levinger, chairman of Kiryat Arba’s governing council, said the assailant climbed a security fence and entered a home where he attacked Hallel Yaffa Ariel, 13. Photos released by the military showed blood on the bed and floor in her room.

In Washington, the State Department confirmed the teenager was a U.S. citizen. “This brutal act of terrorism is simply unconscionable,” said spokesman John Kirby.

In a separate attack in the Israeli city of Netanya, a Palestinian stabbed two Israelis, seriously wounding one of them, near an outdoor market before being shot and killed by an armed passerby, said a police spokesman.

Since October, Palestinians have killed 33 Israelis and two visiting U.S. citizens in a wave of street attacks, mostly stabbings. Israeli forces have shot dead at least 199 Palestinians, 135 of whom Israel has said were assailants. Others were killed in clashes and protests.

Palestinian street attacks no longer occur on a near-daily basis but even though the incidents are less frequent, Israelis have been kept on edge by attacks such as the shooting that killed four people in Tel Aviv on June 8.

Palestinian leaders say assailants have acted out of desperation over the collapse of peace talks in 2014 and Israeli settlement expansion in occupied territory that Palestinians seek for an independent state. Most countries view the settlements as illegal. Israel disputes this.

Israel says incitement in the Palestinian media and personal problems at home have been important factors that have spurred assailants, often teenagers, to launch attacks.

Tensions over Jewish access to a contested Jerusalem holy site, revered by Muslims as Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and Jews as Temple Mount, have also fueled the violence.

Spurred by the bloodshed and diplomatic stalemate, the “Quartet” of sponsors of Middle East peace negotiations – the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia – were expected to issue a report before the weekend recommending “confidence-building steps” toward a two-state solution.

The report cites violence and incitement, settlement expansion and a lack of control of the Gaza Strip by the Palestinian Authority as undermining hope for Middle East peace, according to a U.N. official.

In recent months, Israel has accused Palestinian leadership of “inciting terror” and detained scores of Palestinians over Facebook posts that Israeli authorities alleged were responsible for an increase in alleged attacks and attempted attacks against Israeli military targets and settlers.

Palestinians have instead pointed chiefly to the frustration and despair brought on by Israel’s nearly 50-year military occupation of the Palestinian territory and the absence of a political horizon.

More than 220 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis and 31 Israelis killed by Palestinians since the a wave of unrest first swept across the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel in October.

Rights groups have denounced what they have termed a “shoot-to-kill” policy by the Israeli forces, which they say has led to the death of numerous Palestinians who did not constitute a threat or who could have been subdued in a non-lethal manner.