Share

Israeli stabbed, Palestinian attacker killed in West Bank

Random knife attacks by Palestinians have followed a surge in settler violence and a crackdown by Israeli forces on Palestinians protesting any change to the Al Aqsa status quo.

Advertisement

The statement provided no further details on the civilian.

Three Palestinians carrying out knife attacks on Israelis were killed in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Israeli police and the military said, as an eight-week-old wave of violence showed no signs of dying down.

The man stabbed a 20-year-old woman at the Gush Etzion junction in the West Bank, south of Jerusalem, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement. A Bedouin Israeli from the southern Negev desert was also injured when attacked by a mob in the Israeli town, who mistook him for the attacker.

One of the alleged attackers, a 16-year-old, was shot dead while the other, 14, was injured.

The first attack occurred in Tel Aviv on Thursday afternoon when a Palestinian man entered a makeshift synagogue in a commercial center and stabbed to death two Israelis. He seriously wounded a third man before being overpowered by a shoe salesman, police and eyewitnesses said.

Seventeen Israelis and 80 Palestinians have died in the two-month-long wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, in stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks. Of those, 52 are said by Israel to be attackers and the rest were killed in clashes with Israeli troops.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined plans Monday for tough new security measures against Palestinians in the West Bank after two Israelis were killed in stabbing attacks in less than 24 hours.

‘Excessive use of force’ Last month, a US State Department spokesman said that, while Israel had a right and responsibility to protect its citizens, there were reports “of what many would consider excessive use of force”.

The army detained 15 suspects in overnight raids in and around Hebron, Palestinian security sources said.

The latest incidents come a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to arrive in the region, where he is expected to meet with leaders from both sides in a bid to ease tensions.

Palestinian security forces said 16 were arrested, and residents said many roadblocks were set up at the exits to the city and villages in the area.

Advertisement

Frustration by a new Palestinian generation at the failure to achieve statehood through negotiations – and anger at ongoing Israeli settlement expansion – are seen as an underlying cause of the violence.

Two Palestinians killed after West Bank attacks