U.S. citizen among five killed in two attacks by Palestinian assailants

The violence in the West Bank came hours after the first attack to hit Jerusalem in almost two weeks, when two Palestinians were shot after launching a stabbing attack near a busy market.

In the latest incident, police said a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli woman at a junction near a West Bank settlement bloc.

Numerous Palestinians killed have been alleged attackers, while others were shot dead during clashes with Israeli forces.

An Israeli soldier examines the identity card of a Palestinian driver at a checkpoint at an entrance to the West Bank city of Hebron, on Monday.

At the same junction three days earlier, American yeshiva student Ezra Schwartz and two others were killed in a shooting attack, reportedly by Palestinian gunmen.

With the attacks defying global efforts to restore calm, US Secretary of State John Kerry is to travel to Israel and the West Bank to meet PM Netanyahu and Palestinian president Abbas on Tuesday.

Information on the condition of the two teen attackers was not available.

The incidents were originally focused in and around Jerusalem but have shifted to the occupied West Bank, particularly in and around the flashpoint city of Hebron. Nearby, there was a young woman… approximately 20 years old, with stab wounds to her limbs. According to the NY Times, he said despite attempts by medics to save her, she succumbed to her wounds.

The Palestinians say the violence is rooted in frustration over almost a half century of Israeli occupation and lack of hope for obtaining independence.

The Israeli leader announced tighter controls on Palestinian vehicles and an increase in the number of so-called “bypass roads” which create separate routes for Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Palestinians have also accused Israel of using excessive force, saying a few attackers could be stopped without being killed. “They also took broadcast parts and gave us an order banning us from working for six months because they accuse us of incitement”, he said.

Palestinian allegations that Israel was trying to alter the religious status quo at a Jerusalem holy site, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where al-Aqsa mosque stands, and to Jews as Temple Mount, have partly fueled the violence. “Such policies and actions are directly contrary to the Government of Israel’s stated intention to pursue a two-State solution”, said Mr. Eliasson in his remarks to a special meeting of the UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People ahead of the worldwide Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, marked annually on 29 November.