Switzerland condemns violence in West Bank and Israel

Palestinian stone throwers clash with Israeli border police in A-Ram town, north of Jerusalem, on Friday Keystone / Atef Safadi

Switzerland “strongly condemns the escalation of violence and civilian casualties in the West Bank and Israel”. It calls on all parties to exercise “the utmost restraint”, the head of communications of the foreign ministry, Nicolas Bideau, tweeted on Saturday.

On Friday evening a 21-year-old Palestinian man shot at passers-by near a synagogue in the Neve Yaacov neighbourhood, killing seven people before being shot dead. On Saturday morning a 13-year-old Palestinian boy in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan opened fire at a group of Israeli passers-by, wounding two, before he was shot and wounded by one of them, police said.

Friday’s attack – the deadliest in the Jerusalem area since 2008 – followed an Israeli army raid on Thursday in the West Bank city of Jenin that killed nine Palestinians, including seven gunmen and a woman in her sixties, and cross-border fire on Friday between Israel and Gaza.

At least 30 Palestinians – militants and civilians – have been killed in the West Bank since the start of the month.

International reaction

Friday’s shooting, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, drew wide condemnation, including by Washington, the United Nations and Israel’s Arab and Western allies.

Saudi Arabia, which does not have formal ties with Israel, condemned the targeting of civilians and said an escalation in violence must be halted.

Lebanon’s Iran-backed group Hezbollah praised the attack, as did Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad.