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Israel approves dozens of settlement housing units after Palestinian attack

Xinhua, July 3, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israel has approved the construction of 42 housing units in the West Bank settlement in which a Palestinian stabbed and killed a Jewish teen, Israel's Army Radio reported on Saturday.

The decision was reportedly made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Security Minister Avigdor Lieberman, following Thursday's stabbing attack in Kiryat Arba, a settlement in the southern West Bank.

A tender for these housing units was published about 18 months ago but has been put on hold after no contractor applied. Now bidding will be opened again.

The move is likely to spark international criticism.

The government spokesperson was not immediately available to comment on the report.

Netanyahu said on Friday, during a condolence call to the family of the slain 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel in Kiryat Arba, that the government will "strengthen this place. Apart from the fighting, we will make it stronger. I will sit with the Defense Minister and we will decide how to strengthen the community."

Over the past three days, Palestinian assailants stabbed and shot two Israelis, and four Palestinians died by Israeli fire, two of them were killed amidst attacks.

A 50-year-old man died of a heart attack, after inhaling gas tear fired by Israeli forces during clashed in which he wasn't involved, according to Palestinian sources. A fourth woman was shot to death by soldiers in Hebron in unclear circumstances.

Most of the attacks occurred in the vicinity Hebron, a flashpoint region in which hundreds of Jews live in a settlement enclave in under heavy military guard amidst 200,000 Palestinian, a constant source of frictions.

Kiryat Arba resides just next to Hebron, and it is one of the largest settlements, with a population of about 7,800 people, according to Israel's bureau of statistics.

The recent attacks came amidst a nine-month-long Palestinian unrest, which saw the death of at least 211 Palestinians, an Eritrean asylum seeker, a Sudanese asylum seeker, 33 Israelis, and two U.S. nationals.

Israel occupied the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and had controlled it ever since, in a move denounced by the international community. The expansion of the Jewish settlements is illegal under international law. Endit