Update: Israeli-Palestinian violent tension flares, 2 Palestinian killed

The ongoing violent tension flared on Friday between Israel and the Palestinians, where two Palestinian young men were killed in the West Bank and two injured in the Gaza Strip, according to medics.

The Palestinian health ministry said in an emailed press statement that Abdul Rahman Barghouti, 27 years old, was shot dead by Israeli troops' gunfire in the village of Aabood, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The Israeli media, meanwhile, reported that a 20-year-old Israeli soldier was critically wounded after he was stabbed by a Palestinian young man near the settlement of Nowa Tsuf, north of Ramallah.

The reports said that other Israeli soldiers opened fire at the young man and killed him, adding that a Palestinian ambulance took the body of Barghouti, while an Israeli army force chased the ambulance to prevent it from taking the dead man.

Since early October, the Israeli army is holding around 40 bodies of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army and police in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and refuse to hand them over to the Palestinian side.

The Israeli media also reported that a Palestinian was killed after he drove a car and ran it over Israeli soldiers near the town of Sliwad north of Ramallah, adding that two soldiers were injured; one of them critically.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a statement that the identity of the young man who drove the car is still unknown.

A violent wave of tension and confrontations between Israel and the Palestinians that broke out in early October has left 114 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces gunfire, including 18 young men in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli official reports said that 20 Israelis were killed and dozens injured in a series of stabbing and shooting attacks carried out by Palestinians in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Israel.

Hundreds of Palestinian demonstrators had, meanwhile, joined the weekly protest in the West Bank against the Israeli construction of the separation wall that Israel has been building in the West Bank since 2002.

Palestinian medical sources said that dozens were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas fired by the Israeli army forces to disperse the demonstrators, who chanted slogans against Israel and the expansion of settlements in the West Bank.

In Gaza Strip, which is ruled by Hamas movement and has been under a right Israeli blockade for eight years, hundreds of Islamic Jihad supporters marched the streets of Gaza city in support for the Palestinians protests against Israel.

Earlier on Friday, two Palestinians were moderately injured in Israeli tanks shelling on southeast Gaza Strip, according to Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Hamas security officials said that an Israeli tanks fired suddenly two shells on al-Fukhari neighborhood east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, adding that two residents were moderately injured.

Meanwhile, Israel radio reported that the Israeli army stationed on the borders between Gaza Strip and Israel shot and wounded a Palestinian young man who approached the borderline area.

The Israeli army imposed a strict closure on the borders of the Gaza Strip and opened fire at any Palestinian that approached the borders to prevent infiltration of Palestinians planning to carry out attacks into Israel.

Reyad el-Malki, the Palestinian minister of foreign affairs, told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that the Palestinian leadership is in a permanent contact with "all our brothers to decide on what are the next steps and the Israeli escalation which pushes us towards escalation on all levels."

"We are following up the situation on the ground and we preparing for new cases and files we are intending to present to the International Criminal Court (ICC) soon," he said.

Earlier this year, ICC accepted the Palestinians as its formal member. Endit