Israel kills two in West Bank as tension rises between Jews, Palestinians

Israeli security forces have killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian authorities, as reports of violence emerged from towns and cities with both Jewish and Palestinian populations across Israel.

One of the two Palestinians killed on Wednesday was a teenager shot dead during an Israeli army incursion into the town of Tubas in the occupied West Bank, according to the official Wafa news agency.

Rashid Muhammad Abu Ara, 16, was shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces in the town, Wafa said, citing medical sources.

According to the news agency, Abu Ara was shot in the neck and chest and breathed his last on the spot.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hussein al Titi was killed after being hit by Israeli gunfire in Fawwar refugee camp near the Palestinian city of Hebron, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The Israeli army said the incident took place during a "violent riot," as soldiers "spotted one of the rioters standing on a rooftop with the intention of hurling a block towards the troops."

"The troops responded with fire," the army said in a statement.

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Two Palestinians were also killed in a rocket attack in Israel's central city of Lod.

Israel's Foreign Ministry identified one of the dead as 16-year-old Nadin Awad, a Palestinian.

Her cousin, Ahmad Ismail, told public broadcaster Kan that he was near Nadin when she was killed alongside her father Khalil Awad, 52.

"I was at home, we heard the noise of the rocket. It happened so quickly. Even if we had wanted to run somewhere, we don't have a safe room," said Ismail.

An Israeli woman was killed when rockets hit Rishon Letzion near Tel Aviv. 

State of emergency declared in Lod

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod, near Tel Aviv, after reports of violence among members of Israel's Palestinian community, comprising 21 percent, and Jews.

The city is under curfew on Wednesday night after several nights of violent confrontations in which one Arab man has been killed and many hurt.

Police arrested dozens of people overnight Tuesday in Lod and in majority-Arab towns in central and northern Israel, including Umm al Fahm along the West Bank border and Jisr al Zarqa on the Mediterranean coast.

Israel ordered a massive police deployment in cities with Jewish and Arab populations, where shops torched, along with dozens of cars, local media reported. 

Reports of synagogue attack

Footage posted on social media shows men carried Torah scrolls through the blackened and debris-strewn yard of a reportedly torched synagogue in Lod. 

The video shows two Torah scrolls being salvaged unharmed from the damaged synagogue.

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Tensions high in mixed cities 

Violence in mixed ethnicity towns and cities in Israel flared on Wednesday amid growing anger within the country’s Arab minority over Israeli air strikes and aggression. 

In the coastal city of Acre, Uri Buri, a Jewish-owned fish restaurant, was set fire to, while some Arab residents said they were scared to leave home.

In Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, police fired stun grenades at Arab protesters to disperse them.

In Haifa and Jaffa, and in the Arab city of Nazareth, Arab protesters have flown Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of Palestinians facing eviction from the occupied East Jerusalem Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood under a long-running legal case.

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Israeli police attack Palestinians at Aqsa once again

Meanwhile, Israeli forces resumed their attacks against Palestinians at the Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City.

After performing the dawn prayer, Palestinians gathered at Haram al Sharif, the compound which houses the mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

Israeli forces fired rubber bullets to disperse them. Unarmed Palestinians pelted stones at the Israeli forces.

Israeli police also targeted Palestinian youths at the Bab al Magharib, one of the gates to the mosque, causing multiple injuries to protesters.

READ MORE: Children among 28 Palestinians killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza

At least 56 Palestinians have been killed and more than 300 others injured in Israeli attacks in Gaza amid tension across the Palestinian territories after Israeli police stormed the flashpoint Al Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem and assaulted worshippers.

Six Israelis have also been killed and 45 others injured in rocket fire from Gaza.

Tensions have been running high since last week after an Israeli court ordered the evictions of Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah.

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