Two Palestinians shot dead after stabbing Israeli soldier – army

The Israeli military said two males – Mohammad Sabana, 17, and Nour al-Din Sabana, 23 – were shot after stabbing and wounding a soldier at a checkpoint in Huwwara, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.

According to police spokeswoman Luba Samri, officers approached a man who was said to had drawn their suspicions just outside the Old City for following a pair of Jewish worshippers. Police said another Palestinian woman was arrested at the entrance to the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron after she was discovered carrying a knife.

The army said that the lightly injured soldier was wounded by so-called “friendly fire” when a bullet ricocheted after security forces opened fire on the attackers.

It is the second Palestinian killed after allegedly trying to carry out an attack against Israelis over the weekend. Most of the others have been killed in clashes with security forces. The two Palestinian assailants were shot dead.

Earlier an Israeli soldier was stabbed at the main bus station In Jerusalem where many soldiers catch buses back to their bases after a Shabbat break at home.

Twenty-one Israelis and one US citizen were killed since the current wave of ongoing violence started in October, in lone wolf stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks perpetrated by Palestinians.

“Forces responded to the imminent danger and fired towards the perpetrator”, the military said, adding that the injured soldier had been evacuated to hospital.

The surge in violence has been fuelled by Palestinians’ frustration over Israel’s 48-year occupation of land they seek for an independent state, and the expansion of settlements in those territories which were captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel blames the Palestinian attacks on incitement. The mosque is the holiest Islamic site outside Saudi Arabia.