Palestinian assailant dies, 1 dies in Gaza clash

The Palestinian health ministry said that the assailants were Mohammed Sabaaneh, aged 17, and Nur Eddine Sabaaneh, 23, from Qabatia near Jenin in the north of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The man’s identity wasn’t published, but police said he was a Palestinian from the Ramallah area who had entered Israel illegally.

Naimi was shot and critically injured following the incident south of the West Bank city of Nablus.

“When they identified a man acting suspiciously they approached the individual and asked for his ID card, but took safety precautions at the same time by keeping a safe distance from him, which saved their lives when he pulled a knife and charged them”, Rosenfeld said. “The border guards spotted the terrorist… fired on her and killed her”, a police spokesman said in a statement.

“The second soldier opened fire, firing four bullets at the man, after that they tried to give him first aid”, Dawoud said.

Since mid-September, a wave of Palestinian shooting, stabbing and vehicular attacks have killed 20 Israelis.

Such incidents have become near-daily since October 1, with 12 Palestinians and 2 Israelis killed in the last week alone.

Two Israeli soldiers were injured in a stabbing attack Sunday afternoon near the Hawara checkpoint close to the West Bank city of Nablus. Israel says 88 of them were attacking or attempting to attack Israelis while the rest died in clashes with Israeli troops.

On Friday Palestinians hold candles during a rally to pay tribute to Palestinians who organisers said were killed recently by Israeli troops, on Christmas day in Gaza City on Friday. Palestinians say the violence stems from frustration at almost five decades of Israeli military rule.

US-backed peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel collapsed in April 2014 after nine months of fruitless meetings amid bitter recriminations and mutual blame.