Israel to step up crackdown against Palestinian ‘attackers’: Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to ramp up a campaign of crackdown against Palestinians in East al-Quds and the West Bank, following a spate of retaliatory attacks against settlers in the occupied territories.

Netanyahu made the pledge on Sunday, two days after a Palestinian man allegedly carried out a car-ramming in the occupied territories that killed at least two settlers.

"The cabinet is meeting today to prepare for an even broader action against those carrying out terrorism and their supporters” in East al-Quds and the West Bank, “while preventing as much as possible harming those uninvolved," he said, without providing further details.

Netanyahu’s remarks come as far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has already ordered the regime’s police force to prepare for a major offensive in al-Quds.

Ben-Gvir told reporters on Friday that he has instructed the police forces to be prepared for "Defensive Shield 2" operation in the holy city starting on Sunday.

He referred to a major Israeli offensive called 'Defensive Shield' order by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that led to dozens of deaths among Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Ben-Gvir’s statements regarding the new large-scale offensive were widely criticized by Israeli authorities, who said such decisions should be taken after consulting with all security authorities.

Two Israeli settlers were pronounced dead and five others were injured when a Palestinian man allegedly carried out a car-ramming at a bus stop in the Ramot Alon settlement north of al-Quds on Friday.

Palestinian media outlets identified the Palestinian as Hussain Karaka, a 31-year-old resident of Bethlehem’s Dheisha refugee camp, who was fatally shot by Israeli forces on Friday afternoon.

Also on January 27, seven illegal settlers were killed and 10 others wounded in a shooting operation in occupied al-Quds which came a day after Israeli forces raided the city of Jenin and its neighboring refugee camp in the north of the occupied West Bank, martyring nine Palestinians in one of the deadliest raids in years.

MG