A Palestinian Security forces were already on high alert for violence that was expected to break out on Thursday following the Hebron funeral for Palestinian prisoner Maissara Abu Hamdiyeh, 63, who died of esophageal cancer in Soroka University Medical Center on Tuesday. Two separate autopsies by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority found that his death was caused by cancer, but that did not quell Palestinian anger at Israel. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has accused Israel of medical negligence in his death.
| Esophageal cancer is rarely cured, and death from it is painful from the metastases to the liver and lung. |
According to the IDF, Palestinians attacked a guard station near Tulkarm late Wednesday night and threw Molotov cocktails at it. Soldiers responded with live fire, but the IDF would not confirm any deaths.
The soldiers targeted by the firebombing felt their lives to be at risk before using live fire, a senior defense source told The Jerusalem Post.
| Being firebombed does heighten the anxiety level... |
Some 200 Palestinians rioted in Hebron, where they threw stones and scores of Molotov cocktails at IDF forces near the police checkpoint, which is often the flashpoint for such violence. An IDF officer was lightly wounded.