Israeli forces killed two more Palestinians, one in the occupied West Bank and another in Jerusalem, as the recent uptick in violence continued to climb Thursday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said a man, identified as Daoud Mahmoud Khalil Rayan, 42, was killed during an Israeli military raid in the village of Beit Duqqu in the occupied West Bank.
Rayan was killed after an altercation broke out between the Palestinians and Israeli forces that raided the home of a man accused of carrying out a car-ramming attack at a checkpoint near the city of Modiin on Wednesday.
The accused, 54-year-old Habas Abdel Hafeez Yousef Rayan man was shot dead at the site of the reported attack that seriously wounded a soldier.
During the operation in Beit Duqu, Israeli soldiers responded with riot dispersal means and fired at Palestinians hurling rocks and petrol bombs, the military said in a statement, adding that "hits were identified."
In a separate incident on Thursday, another Palestinian was shot dead in east Jerusalem after reportedly stabbing a police officer. The officer was lightly wounded.
Political shift
The violence came as a political shift is underway in Israel after national elections, with former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set to return to power in a coalition government made up of far-right allies, including the extremist lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, who in response to the incidents said Israel would soon take a tougher approach to attackers.
"The time has come to restore security to the streets," he tweeted. "The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be taken out!"
The violence was the latest in a wave of Israeli violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that has killed more than 130 Palestinians this year.
U.N. Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland said this year is set to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005, when the United Nations began consistently tracking fatalities.
The violence intensified in the spring after several Israelis were killed in a series of attacks allegedly carried out by Palestinians.
Israel responded with a monthslong operation in the West Bank it says is meant to dismantle militant networks. The raids have been met in recent weeks by a rise in attacks against Israelis, killing at least three.
Also on Thursday, Israel said it was removing checkpoints in and out of the city of Nablus.
Israel had imposed the restrictions weeks ago, clamping down on the city in response to a new group, known as the Lions' Den.
The military has conducted repeated operations in the city in recent weeks, killing or arresting the group's top commanders.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has since maintained a military occupation over the territory and settled more than 500,000 people there.
The Palestinians want the territory, along with the West Bank and East Jerusalem, for their hoped-for independent state.