Israel to build new fence near violence hotspot of Hebron

Israel announced plans to build a new fence near the flashpoint city of Hebron as two Palestinians were shot and killed in separate incidents in the West Bank.

In the first incident, the Israeli military said “a violent riot erupted” when troops raided the village of Qattana overnight to search for ammunition and arrest suspected assailants.

The Palestinians hurled firebombs and stones at troops, according to the army.

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Troops shot 21-year-old Yehya Taha in the head, according to a Palestinian health ministry spokesman, and the youth later died of his wounds in a Ramallah hospital.

Later on Thursday, Israeli border guards shot and killed a Palestinian attacker wielding a knife near the West Bank city of Nablus.

A police spokeswoman said the man got out of a taxi near a military post and began running toward officers, brandishing a knife. No Israelis were hurt in that attack.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the assailant as 51-year-old Samir Seresi.

The two deaths were the latest in a two-month wave of violence. Since mid-September, 19 Israelis have died in Palestinian attacks, mostly in stabbings and shootings.

At least 93 Palestinians have also died, including 58 said by Israel to be attackers. The others died in clashes with Israeli forces.

In an effort to quell the violence, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon announced that Israel will build a fortified fence near Hebron, a southern West Bank city that has been a flashpoint in the current unrest.

He said the fence would fill in a gap in the security barrier Israel began building in the early 2000s in response to Palestinian attacks.

Mr Yaalon told MPs that construction of the fence will take a year.

The fence will have similar technology as the recently constructed Israeli fence on the Egyptian frontier meant to deter infiltration of militants or migrants seeking asylum.