Second Intifada

Israeli soldiers shot dead a 19-year-old Palestinian as clashes broke out during a raid at a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Dec. 8, Palestinian medics and the Israeli army said.

After the incident at the Dheisheh refugee camp, clashes also broke out at Aida, another camp in Bethlehem, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.    

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Nov. 24 described a wave of Palestinian knife and car-ramming attacks as "acts of terrorism" that must be condemned as he held talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on how to end the violence.

A Palestinian stabbed and killed an Israeli at a petrol station in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Nov. 23 and in Jerusalem two Palestinian girls attacked and slightly wounded an elderly man with scissors before a policeman shot them both, killing one.

Israeli forces shot dead at least two Palestinians when clashes erupted during an operation Nov. 16 to destroy the West Bank home of a Palestinian accused of killing an Israeli hiker, the army said.

Palestinian hospital sources reported the death of two Palestinians, while the Israeli military said three were shot in an exchange of fire at Qalandiya.    

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered a review of the status of certain Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem, an official confirmed on Oct. 26, a decision that could potentially strip tens of thousands of Palestinians of their Israeli residency rights.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said Oct. 24 that Israel had agreed on steps to calm tensions over Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque, at the centre of Palestinian unrest, including 24-hour security cameras.

Israeli police said they have lifted age restrictions for the main weekly prayers at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Oct. 23, for the first time in weeks.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Oct. 21 that he was "not optimistic" following his talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders to urge them to defuse tensions, diplomats said.

Israeli troops arrested one of the top West Bank leaders of Islamist group Hamas in an overnight raid near Ramallah, the army said on Oct. 20. 

Israel was to voice its opposition Oct. 19 to French proposals to send international observers to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the latest in a diplomatic push to quell fears over a full-blown Palestinian uprising.