DHAKA: Israeli troops have killed two Palestinians during an alleged stabbing incident near the central West Bank city of Nablus as a wave of violence continues without pause.

Ali Abu Mureem, 26, and Said Abu al-Wafa, 38, were both fatally shot by Israeli forces while allegedly attempting to stab soldiers at the Hamra military checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley area of the occupied West Bank on Saturday morning.

Speaking to Al Jazeera by telephone, an Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed that both suspects were killed near the Jewish-only settlement of Bekaot, adding, ‘Israeli forces thwarted the attack and shot them’.

In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements that encircle Palestinian communities and dissect the region’s territorial contiguity.

Saturday’s deadly incident comes just a day after four Palestinian teens were shot and killed by Israeli forces in the village of Sair, situated in the central West Bank, while reportedly attempting to stab soldiers.

The Palestine foreign ministry referred to Friday’s killings as a ‘dangerous escalation’ and part of a ‘continuous series of crimes and field executions by Netanyahu’s government against Palestinians’.

Also on Friday night, Israeli police killed Nashat Milhem, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who shot and killed three people on January 1, during what they called a shootout that followed a week-long manhunt.

BDST: 1756 HRS, JAN 09, 2016
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