Casualty toll rises in Israeli-Palestinian violence

 

Israeli forces have been accused of using excessive force in dealing with protesters in the occupied territories [Majdi Mohammed/AP]

Several people have been injured in attacks by Palestinians in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israeli police say, in the latest in a wave of violence gripping the occupied territories and Israel.
At least five people were taken to hospital with moderate injuries after the attacks in Jerusalem, Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli police spokesperson, said on Twitter.
Israeli media reported a higher casualty toll in a stabbing that police said was carried out by a Palestinian on a bus in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
The attacker was shot, according to reports.
In a separate attack, a Palestinian drove a car into a bus station in West Jerusalem and then got out of the vehicle, stabbing two people, police said.
The incidents unfolded shortly after a Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli man in a Tel Aviv suburb.
The alleged assailant was then kicked and beaten by passers-by, amateur video distributed by police showed.
The assailant was injured and brought to hospital, police said.
Rising toll
Four Israelis and 27 Palestinians, including eight alleged attackers and eight children, have died since October 3 - the worst spell of street violence for years - stirred in part by Palestinian anger over increasing Jewish visits to al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.
The stabbing attacks have stoked concern of a new Palestinian uprising and though Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, have appealed for calm, the violence shows no signs of abating.
Palestinian groups have declared a Day of Rage on Tuesday across the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.
The leaders of Israel's Palestinian community have called for a commercial strike in their towns and villages.
Heavy clashes erupted on Sunday in cities and villages across the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Frustration has boiled over into violence as Israel continues to build Jewish-only settlements throughout the West Bank in defiance of international law.
At least 1,990 Palestinians have been injured, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Health, and rights groups have accused Israeli forces of using excessive force.