Israel vows to expand settlements after Israeli father stabbed to death by Palestinian teen
Israel will build hundreds of new settlement homes in response to the killing of an Israeli father by a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank, Israel’s defence minister said.
A 17-year-old Palestinian crept into the settlement of Adam on Thursday night and stabbed Yotam Ovadia, 31, to death. He wounded two other Israelis before being shot dead.
Mr Ovadia was a father to two young children and was reportedly on his way home to cook a meal for his wife when he was killed.
Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s defence minister, said the government would respond by approving 400 new homes in the settlement.
"The best answer to terrorism is the expansion of settlements,” Mr Lieberman said.
Israel’s government often responds to attacks against settlements by promising to expand the settlements even further. Britain and most of the international community believes the settlements are illegal.
Mr Ovadia’s killer was identified in Palestinian media as Mohammed Youssef, from the Palestinian village of Kauber.
The Israeli military raided the village on Friday morning and questioned several members of Youssef’s family.
The army will demolish the family’s house as part of a widely-criticised Israeli policy of destroying the homes of Palestinian attackers to try to deter future assaults.
A crowd of around 150 people resisted the military’s incursion into the village with rocks and fire bombs, the military said.
The two other Israeli men wounded in the stabbing attack in Adam are expected to survive their injuries.
Jason Greenblatt, Donald Trump’s peace envoy, denounced the killing as “another barbaric attack” and asked when Palestinian leaders would condemn the stabbing.
Yet another barbaric attack tonight. When will President Abbas and Palestinian leaders condemn the violence? Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families tonight.
— Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) July 26, 2018
Israeli ministers also blamed the Palestinian Authority for the violence, saying it was fueled by the Palestinian policy of making payments to the families of attackers.
The Palestinian Authority is yet to condemn the attack. It defends the policy of payments as part of a justified resistance to Israeli occupation.
Hamas praised the attack as a "heroic action".
The killing of Mr Ovadia and the army raid on Koubar came amid heightened tensions across the Holy Land.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli police outside the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday.
Video showed young men shooting fireworks towards police while officers responded with stun grenades.
Largescale Palestinian protests are also expected at the Gaza border on Friday, after a week of on-off fighting between Israel and Hamas.
Six Hamas fighters have been killed since last Friday, while one Israeli soldier was killed and another was wounded.
