West Bank rocked by violence as Israel aid package nears

It's been another weekend of deadly violence in the occupied West Bank. 

Israel's army says it killed two Palestinians near Hebron on Sunday morning. The Israeli Defence Force claims its soldiers shot two men who tried to attack them.  

The military said one of the men "tried to stab IDF soldiers that were in the area" while another opened fire on troops. 

The incident comes less than a day after Israeli forces killed at least 14 Palestinians in a raid on Nur Shams, near the Palestinian city of Turkarm. Soldiers launched the raid on Friday morning, but were still exchanging fire with armed fighters on Saturday. 

Israel has conducted a series of raids in the occupied West Bank since the start of the Gaza war last October. Soldiers and police have arrested thousands of people - many of them members of armed groups, but also civilians. 

Protests against Netanyahu

The Israeli government has warned that the conflict will continue until it destroys Hamas, the group that launched the attacks on October 7. It also says it wants Hamas to return more than 130 hostages. 

But some Israelis are running out of patience with their leaders. Thousands hit the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday, urging the government to bring the hostages home. Some are calling for fresh elections, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed them. 

"We're here to protest against this government that keeps dragging us down, month after month," said protester, Yalon Pikman. "It was before October 7th, and after October 7th. We kept going down in a spiral."

Netanyahu has refused to hold elections during the war, saying it will play into the hands of Hamas. Surveys show that a majority of Israelis blame him for the security failures that allowed the group to kill nearly 1,200 people. Opinion polls also suggest the prime minister would lose if he called an early election.  

Israel getting billions of dollars in aid

Meanwhile, the Gaza war continues to dominate international politics. Lawmakers in the United States have approved a bill that could give Israel $26 billion. 

The U.S. House of Representatives backed the funding on Saturday - the vote coming after President Joe Biden repeatedly called on Congress to take action. The funding is part of a broader $95 billion package that includes just over $60 billion for Ukraine. 

Biden will sign the bill into law if the Senate approves it on Tuesday. Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, so it's likely to get the green light later this week. 

The funding will give Netanyahu's government a boost, but it's not getting support from all quarters. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Istanbul on Saturday. 

Erdogan's office issued a statement referring to an exchange of fire between Israel and Iran last week. The presidency said that Erdogan "stressed that Israel should not benefit from the developments and that it is important to make efforts that will draw attention to Gaza again."

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