Palestinian death toll hits 125 since Oct. 1

JERUSALEM

Two Palestinians were killed at dawn Wednesday by Israeli security forces in the Qalandia refugee camp in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The ministry said that Hikmat Hamdan, 27, and Ahmed Jahajha, 21, had been killed on the pretext that they had attempted to drive a car into a group of Israeli soldiers at the camp’s entrance.

In a statement, the Israeli army alleged that the two Palestinian assailants had attempted to ram their car into a group of Israeli troops, injuring three of the latter.

Both assailants, the army said, had been shot dead.

Eyewitnesses, meanwhile, told Anadolu Agency that Israeli army troops had peppered the car with more than 60 bullets, killing both men in cold blood and seizing their dead bodies.

At dawn Wednesday, hundreds of Israeli soldiers -- backed by military vehicles, helicopters and aerial drones -- raided Jerusalem's Qalandia refugee camp and Bethlehem's Dheisheh refugee camp, injuring at least 68 Palestinians in the process.

Later the same day, Sameh Abdul Momen, an 18-year-old Palestinian, succumbed to injuries sustained last month when he was shot by Israeli security forces at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, Wednesday's deaths bring the total number of Palestinians shot dead by Israeli forces since Oct. 1 to 125, including 25 minors and five women.

At least 92 of those slain were killed "in cold blood", the ministry said, while 55 of their bodies are still being held by the Israeli authorities.

The current violence has also left 22 Israelis dead over the same period.

Some observers attribute the recent uptick in violence to a July arson attack in the West Bank by suspected Jewish settlers that killed an 18-month-old Palestinian child -- and his parents -- and led to an international outcry.