Escalating violence clouds Blinken visit to Israel, West Bank
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s first visit to Israel since the election of a new right-wing government comes as the region braces for more unrest following a deadly raid in the West Bank and a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue.
WASHINGTON — When he arrives in Israel and the West Bank next week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will find an already volatile region on heightened alert, days after the Israeli military mounted its deadliest West Bank raid in two decades and a shooting near a Jerusalem synagogue left seven dead.
Late Friday, Israeli police said a suspected terrorist killed seven people and injured at least 10 others in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Neve Yaakov. The gunman was shot and killed by security forces.
The attack came the same day Israeli jets struck Gaza in response to several rockets that were fired from the territory by Palestinian militants. A day earlier, Palestinian health officials said at least nine Palestinians, including a 61-year-old woman and a male civilian, died in what Israel said was a counterterrorism operation in the flashpoint city of Jenin.
The raid on the Jenin refugee camp drew threats of retaliation from Palestinian militants and renewed fears of cross-border violence. The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the territory, announced Thursday it would be halting security cooperation with Israel and filing a complaint with the United Nations.
