Palestinians killed after stabbing attempt in West Bank

An earlier statement said: ‘Three attackers, armed with knives, attempted to stab soldiers guarding the Gush Etzion junction’.

Gush Etzion is a settlement bloc south of Jerusalem, and its junction has been a focal point in three months of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli security forces and civilians.

Four Palestinians have been killed after they attempted to attack Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The army said in a statement that “forces at the scene responded to the attack and shot the assailant, resulting in his death”.

Three Palestinians, brothers Ahmed and Mohammed Kawasbeh and their cousin Ala Kawasbeh, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers at an Israeli checkpoint in the occupied West Bank near the city of Hebron.

Later in the evening, security forces shot and killed another Palestinian who was attempting to stab IDF forces at a junction near Hebron, according to the Jerusalem Post. The soldiers shot and killed three assailants and severely injured another one.

He was later named as Khalil Shalalda, 16, also from Sair.

Figures released by Israel’s security agency Shin Bet on Friday showed a 25 percent drop in the number of attacks by Palestinians on Israel from November to December, however.

With Thursday’s extrajudicial executions, the Palestinian death toll is now at 148 since October a year ago.

At least 110 of those slain were killed “in cold blood”, the ministry said, while 10 bodies were still being held by Israeli authorities. During that time, 27 Israelis have been killed by the ostensibly random violence and more than 100 Palestinians have been killed while in the act of an assault. Many of the Palestinian attackers in recent violence have come from Hebron.