Hamas admits to attacks in West Bank after ceasefire extended
According to police reports, a 24-year-old woman, a 67-year-old woman and a 73-year-old man were killed in the attack on the western outskirts of Jerusalem. Several others were injured.
According to the information, the attackers drove up in a car and shot at the people with an M16 assault rifle and a pistol. The attackers were "quickly killed by shots fired by two soldiers who were not on duty and a civilian".
Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack a few hours later and called for an "escalation of the resistance". The attackers were a 30-year-old and a 38-year-old man from East Jerusalem, both members of the armed wing of Hamas.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, two soldiers were slightly injured in an attack on a checkpoint with a car, according to the Israeli army. The attacker was "neutralized" with gunfire, it added.
Since the major attack on Israel by Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, on October 7, the Israeli army has also stepped up its operations in the West Bank. Violence by extremist Jewish settlers against Palestinians has also increased since then.
US Secretary of State Blinken arrived in Israel on Thursday night for his third visit since October 7. Blinken first visited Israel's head of state Isaac Herzog and later Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In view of the situation in the Gaza Strip, Blinken insisted on the best possible protection for the civilian population there, according to State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
In the early afternoon, Blinken traveled on to Ramallah in the West Bank. AFP journalists reported that Blinken arrived at the Palestinian Authority headquarters there for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Authority, led by Abbas, formally exercises political control over the West Bank - while Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007.
Prior to the attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank, the Israeli army and Hamas had announced a further continuation of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that had been in place since Friday - shortly before it was due to expire. Hamas declared that the ceasefire would be extended by a further day. Later, a Hamas representative said that ten more Israeli hostages would be released from captivity.
On Wednesday, 16 hostages were released. As Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) confirmed, three of them also have German citizenship. In addition, according to the mediator Qatar, four Thai hostages and two Russian-Israeli women were released regardless of the agreement between Hamas and Israel.
Later, the Israeli Prison Service announced the release of 30 Palestinian prisoners, including the well-known activist Ahed Tamimi.
Since the ceasefire came into force last Friday, a total of 70 Israeli women and children and around 30 other foreign hostages, mainly migrant workers from Thailand, have been released by Hamas. In return, Israel has so far released 210 Palestinian prisoners from its jails.
Hamas had abducted around 240 people during its raid on October 7. Hundreds of fighters from the militia, which is classified as a terrorist organization by the USA and the EU, had infiltrated Israel and, according to Israeli figures, killed around 1,200 people.
In response, Israel massively bombed targets in the Gaza Strip for weeks. According to Hamas, which cannot be independently verified, almost 15,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since then.
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Source: www.stern.de
