BICOM

An Israeli soldier was shot and moderately wounded yesterday as he guarded Jewish worshippers at the tomb of the Biblical figure Joseph in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Sixteen buses of worshippers had arrived to pray at the site and were escorted by IDF forces. Soldiers were attacked with firebombs, rocks and burning tyres. Live rounds were also fired from the Palestinian Balata camp, which is situated adjacent to the tomb. The injured soldier was taken to a hospital in Petach Tikva and was said to be in a stable condition.

Israeli soldiers used crowd dispersal methods to control the situation and the army said that prayers were completed “as planned”.

A statement added: “The circumstances of the incident are being investigated.”

The IDF force at the scene included soldiers from the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), Judea and Samaria Division police officers, and Israel Border Police.

The tomb, which is also holy to Muslims, is located in territory controlled by the Palestinian Authority (PA).The IDF coordinates monthly visits by Israeli Jews wishing to pray there, but does not maintain a presence at the site. The tomb had remained under Israeli control under the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, but was evacuated by the IDF in 2000 after it was burnt down. It has been the scene of violence by Palestinians on several occasions since then, including last October when it was set ablaze once again.

In a separate incident, a 21-year-old Palestinian woman was detained by Israeli forces last night at the Qalandiya checkpoint near Ramallah on suspicion of planning a stabbing attack.

A police statement said the woman “admitted that she planned to carry out an attack and had thrown [away] the knife,” which was soon found discarded nearby.

Meanwhile, the IDF announced yesterday that it had arrested six Hamas members in the West Bank, four in the Hebron area and two near Jenin.