Israeli forces kill four Palestinians in West Bank and East Jerusalem amid election count

The violence comes as election results show Benjamin Netanyahu likely to return as prime minister

Israeli border police search a Palestinian man after a stabbing incident on November 3. Reuters

Israeli forces killed three Palestinians in the West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian officials said, while another Palestinian was shot dead after stabbing a police officer in East Jerusalem, Israeli police said.

In Jerusalem's Old City, the man “pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the officers in his upper leg”, police said. He was shot dead by two other police officers.

Early on Friday, Israeli aircraft struck several targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets fired on Thursday evening from the Palestinian enclave.

In the West Bank, Israeli forces shot and killed Daoud Rayan, 42, in Beit Duqqu, north-west of Jerusalem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

Two more Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in Jenin later in the day and four others were wounded, it said.

The incidents come at a time when votes are being counted in the fifth national elections in four years. Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 72, is expected to make a comeback just over a year after he left office.

Mr Netanyahu is still facing corruption charges which he denies.

If he wins, he is likely to form a coalition government with right-wing extremist ministers such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wants to take a tougher position on Palestinian attackers.

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  Former Israeli prime minister and leader of the Likud party Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara greet supporters in Jerusalem as Israelis went to the polls on Tuesday. EPA

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  Mr Netanyahu greets supporters after the end of voting for the national elections. AFP

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  Prime Minister Yair Lapid addresses supporters at his campaign headquarters in Tel Aviv. EPA

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  The prime minister's wife Lihi Lapid, centre, cheers her husband. AFP

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  The leader of the Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) far-right party Itamar Ben Gvir at his party's campaign headquarters in Jerusalem. AFP

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  Otzma Yehudit party members in upbeat mood. AFP

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  A Likud party supporter responds to favourable exit polls. Getty

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  Supporters of Mr Netanyahu react as early exit polls suggest a comeback for the former leader. EPA

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  An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israeli selects his ballot paper on the day of Israel's general election at a polling station in Jerusalem. Reuters

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  Mr Netanyahu and his wife Sara cast their ballot at a polling station in Jerusalem in the country's fifth election in less than four years. AFP

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  A man kisses his dog after casting his ballot in Tel Aviv during the Israeli elections. AP

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  Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid smiles as he casts his vote at a polling station in Israel's coastal city of Tel Aviv. Mr Lapid urged the electorate to cast their ballot after voting in an election that might lead to veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu making a comeback alongside far-right allies. Reuters

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  Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz, right, head of the new centre-right National Unity Party, and his wife Revital Gantz vote at a polling station in the city of Rosh Haayin in central Israel. AFP

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  Ultra-Orthodox Jews watch their Rabbi Israel Hager vote during Israeli elections in Bnei Brak. AP

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  An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man votes in Israel's parliamentary election at a polling station in Bnei Brak. AP

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  An Israeli man walks with a little girl towards the ballot box to cast his vote. AP

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  A little girl helps her mother cast her ballot on the day of Israel's general election at a polling station in Taibe, northern Israel. Reuters

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  Israelis queue to cast their ballots on the day of Israel's general election at a polling station in Tel Aviv. Reuters

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  Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis wait to cast their ballots at a polling station in Jerusalem. Reuters

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  An Israeli man casts his ballot at a drive-through polling station for people quarantined as a result of Covid-19 in Jerusalem. Reuters

“The time has come to restore security to the streets,” he said in a tweet on Thursday after the incidents. “The time has come for a terrorist who goes out to carry out an attack to be eliminated.”

This year has proved to be the deadliest for Palestinians in seven years, with more than 130 people killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel said on Thursday it would remove checkpoints in and out of the West Bank city of Nablus after a wave of attacks by a group that calls itself the Lions' Den.

Israel's military said it concluded an operation in the West Bank that had resulted in the arrest or killing of the group's top commanders.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East War and has since maintained military occupation of the territory and settled more than 500,000 Israelis there.

Additional reporting by agencies