Five Wounded in West Bank Shooting, Attacker Killed

Paramedics outside a hospital in Jerusalem following the Hebron shooting incident. (AFP)
Paramedics outside a hospital in Jerusalem following the Hebron shooting incident. (AFP)
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Five Wounded in West Bank Shooting, Attacker Killed

Paramedics outside a hospital in Jerusalem following the Hebron shooting incident. (AFP)
Paramedics outside a hospital in Jerusalem following the Hebron shooting incident. (AFP)

A gun attack in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron wounded five people on Saturday, including four Israelis and a Palestinian, with the assailant shot dead.

Extreme-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir claimed on Twitter that his Hebron home was the target.

Israel's security forces have not confirmed the allegation and Israeli media, citing security sources, have reported Ben-Gvir's home in a Hebron settlement was not targeted.

Israel's Magen David Adom emergency response service reported five wounded.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said the Palestinian victim was being treated at a Hebron area hospital.

Israel's army said an attacker "shot live fire" near a checkpoint in Hebron, a West Bank city which is also home to a community of hardline Jewish settlers.

An army spokesperson told AFP that an Israeli security guard shot the attacker dead at the scene.

"Soldiers are conducting searches in the area" for additional suspects, the army said.

The United Nations envoy for Middle East peace, Tor Wennesland, warned on Friday that the West Bank was "caught in a downward spiral" of bloodshed. This year is on track to be the deadliest in the territory in more than a decade.

More than 100 Palestinians, including fighters and attackers, have been killed across the West Bank as Israel has conducted near daily raids targeting alleged militants.

The raids were launched following a spate of deadly attacks targeting Israelis that began in March.



No Alternative to UNRWA in Gaza besides Israel, Agency Chief Says

Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
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No Alternative to UNRWA in Gaza besides Israel, Agency Chief Says

Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)
Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts (Reuters)

The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency's work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, its chief told reporters on Monday, repeating calls for countries to resist an Israeli ban on the organisation.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, is in Geneva for a strategy meeting with donors after it was banned by Israel from operating there last month in what he said is one of the darkest moments in the agency's history, Reuters reported.

"I have drawn the attention of the member states that now the clock is ticking ... We have to stop or prevent the implementation of this bill," he told reporters, saying there is no alternative to the agency's services in Gaza besides allowing Israel to take them over.