Palestinian man tries to stab soldier in northern West Bank and is shot by soldiers, IDF says
A Palestinian man attempted to stab an Israeli soldier in the northern West Bank on Tuesday morning before being shot dead by soldiers there, the army said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it received reports of an attempted stabbing attack near the headquarters of the Samaria Regional Brigade.
“A terrorist armed with a knife ran towards the soldiers guarding the area, the fighters responded with fire,” the army said in a statement, adding that the assailant had been “ neutralized”.
There was no immediate word on his condition.
No soldier was injured.
Surveillance footage appeared to show a man running towards two soldiers. Reports said he was holding a knife in his hand.
The man approached within a few meters of the soldiers before they apparently fired on him.
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Footage from the scene showed several soldiers standing around a person lying on the ground.
‘The order is clear – strike terrorists wherever they are, with all types of weapons,’ Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said later in the day after meeting with IDF chief of staff Kohavi and other senior commanders at a military base in the West Bank. .
“Anyone who raises their hand against an Israeli citizen or soldier will have their blood on their head,” the prime minister added.
Tuesday’s incident came amid heightened tensions amid ongoing military operations in the West Bank, as several of the terrorists in a recent spate of deadly attacks came from Jenin. Many Palestinians were also killed during this period, mostly in clashes with Israeli forces.
Last week, prominent Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot dead in clashes between armed Palestinians and Israeli soldiers while covering a military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who accompanied her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially saying Palestinian gunmen may have been responsible, later backtracked and now says it may have been hit by errant Israeli fire, but a final decision is not still possible.
The journalist’s death further heightened tensions and on Friday, Sgt. Major Noam Raz, a veteran officer of the elite Yamam counterterrorism unit, was shot dead during an Israeli operation near Jenin, in the town of Burqin.