“He was all slashed and bloody. We call on the Palestinians to continue such activities”, the group said. “We didn’t know what happened and then someone near the door shouted there’s a terrorist”, Vaknin said. A blood-spattered floor was littered with plastic gloves.
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One of the dead was the American, identified as Ezra Schwartz in a tweet by Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
After his capture, officials say the man from the West Bank town of Dura near Hebron told police officers that he went to Tel Aviv “in order to attack and kill Jews”.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at motorists stuck in a traffic jam in Gush Etzion killing three people one of whom is an American teenager.
The West Bank attacker was shot, the army said, but the assailant’s condition was not clear.
According to the Israeli Government Press Office, Schwartz studied in a Jewish seminary outside Jerusalem and had come to Israel on Masa, a program that brings young Jews from overseas to live in the country. Ezra and his friends visited Gush Etzion to deliver food to lone soldiers. Ezra Schwartz was 18 years old and a recent high school graduate from MA who was spending the year studying at a religious school.
“He cared about learning, he was dedicated to his Jewish identity”, said Rabbi Ron Fish, the spiritual leader of Temple Israel in Sharon where Schwartz was active as a youth leader.
UN Middle East coordinator Nickolay Mladenov, who has been critical of Israel’s methods of fighting Islamists, on November 19 extended his “deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims of the abhorrent terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut and the Sinai”.
CBS2 has learned a teen from Long Island was in the vehicle with Schwarz when he was killed. Still, authorities have failed to halt the spontaneous attacks.
The homes of several Palestinians charged in attacks have been demolished in recent weeks in what the Israelis describe as a deterrent measure, but the tactic has not, so far, put a stop to the violence.
The attack was the latest in a two month outburst of assaults that Israel has struggled to contain.
A series of attacks have been carried out by Palestinian individuals on Israeli military and civilians since the beginning of last month, leaving at least 15 Israelis dead.
In yesterday’s clashes between stone-throwing Palestinians and Israeli forces, 11 Palestinians were wounded near Ramallah, eight in Hebron and 14 on the Gaza border.
The attacks have Israelis on edge.
Two Palestinian houses in the West Bank were vandalized overnight Thursday-Friday in a suspected anti-Arab attack.
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The memorandum of understanding was signed on Thursday between Maj.
