Palestinian leadership across factions reacted to a recent string of deaths at the hands of Israeli forces Thursday hours after a third Palestinian was shot and killed by Israeli forces this month.

The spokesperson for President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rdeineh, said recent incidents of Israeli forces killing Palestinian civilians aims to “hit stability and create tensions in the area.”

He added that that the killings signal a desire from Israel to send a message to the international community that supports and sympathizes with the Palestinian cause.

Israeli forces shot and killed a 53-year-old Palestinian during an arrest raid in the town of Beit Ummar in northern Hebron early Thursday, one day before a 22-year-old was shot dead in the Jenin village of Birqin.

Mohammad Kasbah, 17, was shot and killed by an Israeli commander near the Qalandia checkpoint on July 3 after throwing a stone at his military vehicle.

Rdeineh also said that Israel’s motivation is to turn the world’s attention away from political successes of Palestinian leadership, without specifying the specific successes in reference.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), meanwhile demanded international interference to stop the “organized crimes” Israel has been committing against Palestinians.

The group said in a statement that the escalation in crimes should be grounds to open cases in international courts, namely the International Criminal Court, in order to criminalize Israel and remove its legitimacy.

Last month the Palestinian Authority submitted a first dossier of evidence charging Israel with war crimes to the ICC.

Additionally, Hamas and the Islamic Jihad both stated that they hold Israel entirely responsibility for killing 53-year-old Falah Abu Maria on Thursday and stressed the right of Palestinians to defend themselves and respond to “Israeli crimes” with all possible and available means.

The two groups also held Israel responsible for the lives of Abu Maria’s two sons that were injured during the incident.

The statements come as seventeen Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces this year and a weekly average of 38 have been injured, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Last year forty-six Palestinian civilians were killed in the West Bank, according to Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. MAANNEWS