Israeli forces raid Jenin as Palestinian man killed in Israel

Israeli forces have stepped up raids, arrests, and attacks on Palestinians across the occupied West Bank, security sources confirmed on Tuesday.

Fifteen Palestinians were detained during Israeli raids on dozens of houses in the region, security sources told The New Arab.

Five people from Jenin were detained, three from Nablus, three from Bethlehem, and four from Hebron.

"The Israeli forces deliberately intimidated the Palestinians by beating and torturing the detainees before transferring them to the interrogation centres," a security source told The New Arab. "They also fired into the air."

Israeli forces raided occupied West Bank towns cities on Tuesday hours after a Palestinian man was shot dead in Israel after allegedly stabbing a police officer with a kitchen knife.

It was the fourth day of Israeli military operations around Jenin which began after a man from the area was implicated in the killing of three people in a Tel Aviv bar last week.

Israel Prime Minister Naftali Bennett overnight visited the reopened bar that was the scene of Thursday's attack, which sparked an all-night manhunt before the shooter was shot dead.

The Israeli raid on the cities set off a confrontation with young Palestinians in the area, who responded to the Israeli security force's tear gas and live fire by throwing stones and attempting to blockade the roads in a bid to prevent the arrests. 

Israeli forces often carry out overnight raids in the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank to arrest Palestinians who they accuse of planning attacks.

Thousands of Palestinians are held in Israeli administrative detention, sometimes for months, without trial.

The latest aggression by Israel followed an incident on Tuesday in the Mediterranean port city of Ashkelon, where Israeli police stopped a man who "pulled out a knife and attacked the officer".

The suspect was shot dead, while the Israeli police officer was hospitalised with light wounds.

The assailant was in his 40s and from the flashpoint city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Israeli police said.

The Palestinian health ministry said in a press statement sent to The New Arab that Israeli police killed a Palestinian worker from occupied Hebron while he was working on a construction site in Ashkelon.

Previously, on 29 March, a Palestinian assailant from the Jenin area killed five people in a town near Tel Aviv before police killed him.

Since March 22, tensions dramatically increased across the occupied West Bank and Israel.

Israeli forces have killed at least 15 Palestinians, including two women. Fourteen Israelis were killed in attacks allegedly carried out by Palestinians.

Israel killed 355 #Palestinians last year, including 87 #children, and wounded over 16,500, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday.#Palestinehttps://t.co/TeS3XBXOtQ

— The Palestine Project (@PalestineProjct) April 5, 2022

The rise in violence comes during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and days before the Jewish festival of Passover and Christian Easter.

Last year, tensions in Jerusalem flared into 11 days of war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, after Israeli soldiers and settlers forcibly entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and beat Palestinian worshippers and protesters.

Israeli bombardment of besieged Gaza killed hundreds, including women and children.