Israeli soldiers shot Palestinians who attacked them: military

STORY: This was the scene in the occupied West Bank on Sunday (April 21), where two Palestinians tried to shoot and stab Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli military.

It added that its soldiers responded with live fire.

A Reuters cameraman saw a body at the scene of the incident, a junction near the Palestinian city of Hebron.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, quoting local sources, said that Israeli forces shot the two men and ambulance crews were prevented from reaching them.

Palestinian security sources told WAFA that the two men, aged 18 and 19, died and that they were still unable to collect their bodies.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, has escalated with frequent army raids on militant groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages and Palestinian street attacks.

On Sunday (April 21), mourners fire in the air at a funeral for Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in a raid the day before.

Palestinian health authorities said at least 14 Palestinians were killed in the Nur Shams area, near the flashpoint city of Tulkarm.

The Israeli army released a video said to show its operations which began in the early hours of Friday (April 19).

Reuters was not able to independently confirm the date or location of the footage.

Separately on Saturday, an ambulance driver was killed as he went to pick up wounded from a separate attack by violent Jewish settlers, Palestinian authorities said.

Israel's military did not immediately comment on the ambulance driver's death on Saturday.

The war in Gaza has overshadowed continuing violence in the West Bank.

Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds killed during regular operations in the West Bank by Israeli army and police since the start of the Gaza war on Oct. 7.

Those killed were mostly members of armed groups, but also stone-throwing youths and uninvolved civilians.