USA citizen among five killed in two attacks by Palestinian assailants

Palestinian attackers have killed 18 Israelis over the past two months, mostly in stabbings, while 88 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire.

Israeli security forces fired at the Palestinian assailant and killed him, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.

Figures released Sunday by Israel’s first aid agency, Magen David Adom, show that since the beginning of October, 22 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians. A Palestinian in a taxi drove his vehicle at a group of Israelis near the settlement of Kfar Adumim, but when he got out and tried to stab them, he was shot and killed by a civilian.

Earlier Monday, two teenage Palestinian girls armed with scissors wounded an elderly Palestinian man before being shot by police, one fatally.

Security forces shot dead a Palestinian woman wielding a knife outside Nablus.

The attacker, identified as Isam Thwabteh, 34, and a resident of Beit Fajar, near Bethlehem, was shot by soldiers.

Thursday’s attacks follow a drive-by shooting last Friday in which two Israelis – a rabbi and his son – were killed in front of their family near the settlement of Otniel. The man, who was later identified as also being Palestinian, was slightly wounded.

Three Palestinian assailants were shot dead on Monday, while an Israeli soldier died in a stabbing attack in acts of violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank, Israeli officials say.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the stabbing attacks appeared to be ideologically driven, rather than criminal, and that police were sweeping the city of Kiryat Gat to try and apprehend the attacker. She died of her injuries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended citizens for being on “maximum alert”.

Earlier today, two other terrorist attacks on the West Bank were thwarted. “There is no restriction on the actions” of the army or other security services, he said.

The attack in Jerusalem occurred on Jaffa Road, a busy street near the city centre’s market.

The current wave of violence was sparked amid strife over the flashpoint holy site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in east Jerusalem, holy to both Jews and Muslims, and quickly spread throughout the country amid dim prospects of a peace treaty based on the two-state solution. Netanyahu also said work permits would be revoked for the families of those who carry out such attacks.