Israeli soldier killed by rock in West Bank raid

Israeli soldiers returned to the town after the incident to find the person who dropped the stone, reported the West Bank’s Wafa news agency. Several arrests were made.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the incident on Tuesday, saying “Israel’s long arm will find the terrorist.”

The last IDF soldier to be killed by a Palestinian died in March 2019 after being shot alongside another two other people at the Ariel settlement in the West Bank.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli police said a Palestinian man attempting to stab people with a screwdriver at the Qalandia checkpoint outside Jerusalem was shot and wounded.

The incidents come as Netanyahu is promising to annex parts of the West Bank as early as July, with conditional US government approval.

The move faces widespread international opposition and threatens decades of hopes for a two-state solution.

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced the approval of new settlement projects just a day after US ambassador David Friedman said the Trump administration was prepared to support the annexation on certain conditions, including Knesset approval and a freeze on settlement building in areas not annexed.

Israel captured a significant portion of Palestinian territory in the 1967 war with its neighbors and has continued to approve West Bank settlements, which the United Nations has ruled “flagrant violations of international law.”

Israeli officials have said for years that the West Bank — the core of a proposed future Palestinian state — is key territory for maintaining Israel’s self-defense.