Jerusalem, Apr 25 (EFE).- Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday vowed to counter terrorism by strengthening Israel’s territorial claims, as the country marked Memorial Day, which commemorates fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of terrorism.
Netanyahu’s remarks during a ceremony at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem come amid heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.
“We will respond to terror by continuing to deepen our hold on our homeland, continue to build, continue to create, continue to plant and to add life,” the premier said.
Six Israelis were injured in two separate incidents in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank in the past 24 hours.
“Yesterday and today, on Memorial Day, in Jerusalem and in the Binyamin region, we received another example with two additional terror attacks,” Netanyahu added. “Every generation in its turn must confront the poison of incitement, the fanaticism for destruction, and the lust for killing.”
More than 24,213 people are believed to have died in battles since 1860 when the first Jewish neighborhood was built outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Some 4,255 people have been killed since 1951.
The names of 59 soldiers and victims of the fight between Israelis and Palestinians have been added in the past year, when the Palestinian-Israeli conflict escalated to levels of violence not seen since the Second Intifada (2000-05).
The wave of violence has so far this year left at least 100 Palestinians dead, mostly militiamen in clashes between Israeli troops, but also civilians, including 18 children.
On the Israeli side, 19 civilian victims of attacks have died, most of them settlers, including three children.EFE
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