The Israeli-Palestinian conflict claimed the lives of a Palestinian teenager and a British-Israeli mother who succumbed to injuries from a West Bank gun attack that earlier killed her two daughters.
Tensions have flared into bloodshed since last week, with heavy clashes, shootings, rocket strikes and a car-ramming attack marring a period when the Muslim holy month of Ramadan coincides with the Jewish Passover and Christian Easter.
Several ministers from Israel's hard-right government joined a protest march by Jewish settlers, held under tight security in the north of the occupied West Bank.
In the latest West Bank shooting, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager and wounded two other people, the Palestinian health ministry said, during what the army described as a raid to arrest a "terror suspect".
Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, died after being shot "with live occupation (Israeli) bullets in the head, chest and abdomen", the ministry said, having earlier reported that two others were injured by Israeli bullets.
The Israeli army confirmed its forces were operating in the Aqabat Jaber camp, the site of previous deadly Israeli raids this year, near Jericho, where soldiers were seeking "to apprehend a terror suspect".
The army said troops responded with live fire after "suspects opened fire toward (soldiers), hurled explosive devices and Molotov cocktails".
They added that a suspect was taken in by security forces.
Clashes erupted when the army entered the camp and surrounded several houses, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
A Palestinian security official told AFP that five individuals were arrested during the raid.
The Palestinian armed movement Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip said it mourned the "young martyr" and praised those "who are standing up to this arrogant enemy".
The operation came as a Jerusalem hospital confirmed that a British-Israeli woman, Lucy (Leah) Dee, had died after being seriously injured in a shooting attack Friday in the West Bank that killed her two daughters.
Their car came under fire in the Jordan Valley, where Jericho is also located.
The families were residents of Efrat, an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly tweeted: "There can be no justification for the murder of Leah and her two daughters, Maia and Rina."
Tragic news that Leah Dee has also died following the abhorrent attacks in the West Bank.
— James Cleverly🇬🇧 (@JamesCleverly) April 10, 2023
There can be no justification for the murder of Leah and her two daughters, Maia and Rina.
We will continue to work with the Israeli authorities to end this senseless violence.
"We will continue to work with the Israeli authorities to end this senseless violence," he added.
'Support the people'
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War and hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers live in Israeli-approved settlements there which are considered illegal under international law.
Hundreds of Israelis marched in the north of the West Bank, pushing for state approval of an Israeli settler outpost.
Several government ministers - including Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir - appeared at the march to Eviatar, whose residents agreed to leave in 2021 while officials examined their case.
Israeli forces imposed road closures to secure the rally, which Palestinian officials said prompted schools to shut.
"With God's help we will legalise dozens more" outposts, said Mr Ben-Gvir, who lives in a settlement himself.
Previous protests against Eviatar resulted in multiple Palestinians from the neighbouring village of Beita being shot dead by Israeli forces.
Some villagers today waved Palestinian flags and threw rocks at soldiers, who fired tear gas at the demonstrators out of view of the marching Israeli crowds.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its medics had treated 216 people - the majority suffering from tear gas inhalation and 22 hurt by rubber bullets.
In Eviatar hundreds of Jewish men prayed together and children played on bouncy castles. Ice creams, candyfloss and balloons were on offer, while families set down picnic blankets.
Rina Cohen, who had travelled from Jerusalem with her husband, said the event was "very successful".
"We came here to support the town, Eviatar ... we want to support the people, because they have struggles, their houses were ruined," the 22-year-old told AFP.
A group of young people beside her lifted up a sheet of roofing, putting it back on one of the prefabricated homes abandoned nearly two years ago.
The site has since been guarded by Israeli security forces.
Surging violence
The latest surge in unrest comes after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced, late last month, a "pause" for dialogue on judicial reform legislation which split the nation and caused divisions in his government.
Violence has flared anew since Israeli police last Wednesday stormed the prayer hall of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque - Islam's third-holiest site - in a pre-dawn raid aimed at dislodging "law-breaking youths and masked agitators" they said had barricaded themselves inside.
The next day, more than 30 rockets were fired from Lebanese soil into Israel, an attack which the Israeli army blamed on Palestinian groups, saying it was most likely Hamas.
Israel then bombarded Gaza and southern Lebanon, targeting "terror infrastructures" that it said belonged to Hamas.
Late Friday an Italian tourist was killed and seven others wounded in a suspected car-ramming attack in Tel Aviv.
The Israeli army also said it launched strikes on targets in Syria yesterday, after rockets fired from there landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The conflict has this year claimed the lives of at least 94 Palestinians, 19 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian, according to an AFP count based on Israeli and Palestinian official sources.
These figures include, on the Palestinian side, combatants and civilians, including minors, and on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, including minors, and three members of the Arab minority.
