Israel is to build hundreds of new homes in a settlement in the occupied West Bank where a Palestinian stabbed three Israelis, one fatally, Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Friday. "The best answer to terrorism is the expansion of settlements," Lieberman wrote on Twitter, announcing 400 new housing units in the Adam settlement north of Jerusalem a day after the deadly stabbing.
The teenage attacker sneaked into the settlement on Thursday evening by climbing a fence, Israeli media reported. He stabbed three people seemingly at random before being shot dead, the army said, naming the dead Israeli as Yotam Ovadia, 31. Israeli media said he had two young children. A 58-year-old victim was said to be seriously wounded but stable. The third victim was lightly injured. The attacker was later identified by official Palestinian media as Mohammed Dar Youssef, 17, from the village of Kobar.
The army said Friday it had raided the village, questioned a number of his family members and suspended their work permits. During the raid on Friday morning, clashes broke out between young Palestinians and soldiers firing tear gas. "The rioters hurled large rocks and firebombs and rolled burning tyres at (Israeli) troops, who responded with riot dispersal means," an army statement said.
The clashes were over by mid-morning Friday, an AFP photographer said, though the army had established a checkpoint at the edge of the village.
Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said three people were arrested.
The army added it was "reinforcing the defence" of Adam and other settlements.
All Israeli settlement construction in the occupied West Bank is considered illegal by the international community.
Israel rejects the widely held view that settlement expansion is one of the greatest obstacles to peace with the Palestinians.
Attacks against Israelis in the West Bank are supported by many Palestinians as pushing back against settlement growth.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy Jason Greenblatt called on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah movement leads the government in the West Bank, to condemn the attack.
"Yet another barbaric attack tonight. When will President Abbas and Palestinian leaders condemn the violence?" he wrote on Twitter.
There was no response from Abbas's government, which has cut ties with the Trump administration over its stance on Israel.
"Terror must be condemned by all," the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, wrote on his Twitter account.
"Such horrible acts serve only those who stand in the way of peace."
Lone Palestinian attackers have carried out multiple deadly stabbings and car-rammings against Israelis in recent years in the West Bank, Jerusalem and elsewhere.