Death toll rises in Israel and occupied West Bank as violence continues

Israeli forces have launched a wave of raids focused mostly on the city of Jenin

Palestinians go through a heavily guarded checkpoint to attend the first Friday prayers during Ramadan in Hebron. EPA

A man was shot dead in Ashkelon, Israel, on Tuesday morning after attempting to stab a policeman, Israeli authorities said.

Israel and the occupied West Bank are going through a wave of violence that has left more than 30 dead in recent weeks, including 16 Palestinians and 14 Israelis.

The Israeli army said 13 people had been arrested overnight on suspicion of militant activity.

On Sunday, a man was shot dead by Israeli soldiers, also in Ashkelon, after attempting to grab a soldier's weapon. He was later identified as a Jewish Israeli. The incident is being investigated, security forces said.

In Tuesday’s incident, police said an officer began checking a person who aroused his suspicion when the assailant “pulled out a knife and attacked the officer".

The officer “responded quickly, fired and neutralised the suspect, whose death was declared on site,” police said.

The officer was taken to hospital with light wounds.

The assailant was a man in his 40s from the city of Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, police said.

Recent Israeli army raids have focused on the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have launched numerous operations against militants.

Jenin, which also hosts a large refugee camp for displaced Palestinians, has been the scene of outbreaks of severe violence during anti-occupation uprisings, before and following the town’s handover to Palestinian Authority control in 1996.

On Sunday, Israeli security forces killed a Palestinian woman who stabbed a policeman in the centre of Hebron, a powder keg where around 1,000 Jewish settlers live under heavy military protection among 200,000 Palestinians.

The same day, the army shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian woman whom they said failed to heed warning shots near the West Bank town of Bethlehem.