DEIR HATAB: Israeli forces shot dead two Palestinian on Tuesday in the West Bank, on a day mourners laid to rest a British-Israeli woman who died in an attack that also killed her two daughters.

“I commend the actions of the soldiers who eliminaated two people who opened fire on them near Elon Moreh”, a Jewish settlement close to the West Bank city of Nablus, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Twitter. He added the troops had “prevented an attack on Israeli civilians”.

In a statement, the Israeli army said “armed assailants fired shots from a vehicle at the Elon Moreh post”. Soldiers returned fire “toward the vehicle and neutralised two armed assailants.” The army said it seized two M-16 rifles and a handgun. The Palestinian ministry of health named the two men as Saud Abdullah Saud Titi and Mohammad Abu Dhiraa.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade — the wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah movement — claimed the two men as members. They were from the nearby Balata refugee camp, a statement from Fatah said.

The incident came as thousands of mourners gathered on Tuesday at an Israeli settlement in the West Bank for the funeral of a British-Israeli woman killed in a shooting attack days earlier.

Israelis holding national flags lined the roads in the rain leading to the funeral for Lucy Dee in Kfar Etzion. The 48-year-old, also known by her Hebrew name Leah, died on Monday from wounds sustained three days earlier when her car came under fire in the Jordan Valley.

Two of her children, sisters aged 16 and 20, were shot dead in the attack and buried on Sunday.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in a statement, labelled the killings “abhorrent” and added “the UK condemns this appalling attack on civilians”.

He said Britain urged “all sides to de-escalate tensions in Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories, and end the deadly cycle of violence.”

The government also said it would ban Jewish visitors from entering Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa compound, starting on Wednesday until the end of Ramazan.

Home to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the site is sacred in both Judaism and Islam, and is the focal point for Ramazan celebrations.

Jews, who know the site as the Temple Mount, are allowed to visit the site but not pray there. The move follows a promise by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to restore security “on all fronts”.

The latest surge in unrest began last on Wednesday with an Israeli police raid on Al Aqsa mosque, followed by rocket fire from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and a car-ramming in Tel Aviv that killed an Italian tourist.

The body of Alessandro Parini arrived back in Rome on Tuesday, after the 36-year-old was killed when a car ploughed into pedestrians on the city’s seafront on Friday evening.

On Monday, Palestinian mourners had gathered near Jericho city for the funeral of a 15-year-old boy, Mohammed Fayez Balhan, who was shot dead by Israeli forces during a raid in the Jordan Valley.

The army said it was working to apprehend “a terror suspect,” and one person was detained during the operation.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2023