JERUSALEM — A Palestinian assailant stabbed a number of civilians in an Israeli-controlled industrial zone within the occupied West Financial institution on Tuesday, then fled by automobile and continued his lethal rampage alongside a freeway, the place he hit one other individual with the automobile. Three Israelis had been killed and several other extra had been severely wounded at numerous factors alongside the assailant’s path, in accordance with the Israeli ambulance service.
The assault started at about 9:30 a.m. and ended when the assailant was fatally shot by a soldier, the Israeli army stated.
Israel is to swear in a brand new Parliament afterward Tuesday, after the Nov. 1 election, and the prime minister-designate, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been working to place collectively a right-wing and spiritual coalition authorities with the assistance of far-right events which have pledged to behave extra aggressively to guard Israelis.
The assault additionally occurred on the anniversary of the Palestine Liberation Group’s symbolic proclamation from exile in 1988 of an unbiased Palestinian state within the West Financial institution, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel within the Arab-Israeli Warfare of 1967. That state has by no means materialized.
The assailant on Tuesday arrived on the entrance gate of the economic zone belonging to the Jewish settlement of Ariel and stabbed civilians within the space, then moved on to a close-by fuel station, the place he stabbed further civilians, the Israeli army stated.
After fleeing the fuel station in a stolen automobile, the assailant then carried out what the army described as a deliberate automobile crash on Route 5, a close-by freeway, and rammed into one other civilian earlier than taking off once more on foot.
The ambulance service, Magen David Adom, confirmed the deaths of two individuals who had been stabbed close to the fuel station and the loss of life of one other man who had been hit by the assailant’s automobile on Route 5. The emergency service stated that it had additionally transported to the hospital 5 extra individuals who had been stabbed within the industrial space and one other man who had been stabbed on the freeway.
The Palestinian official information company, Wafa, recognized the lifeless assailant as Muhammad Murad Sami Suf, 18, from the Palestinian village of Hares, close to Ariel. Israeli information media reported that he had a allow to work within the settlement industrial zone.
Odelia Shahaf, an Israeli nurse and medic, advised Kan, Israel’s public radio, that she was on her approach to work alongside Route 5 when she noticed what seemed to be a street accident.
“I noticed a wounded individual on the street and instantly approached him, however as I began therapy, I heard individuals yelling ‘terrorist, terrorist,’ and I noticed a person with a knife operating towards us. We began to run away from there, and folks pulled out their pistols,” she stated, including that the assailant had managed to stab one other man earlier than he had been shot.
Israel has lengthy offered the Ariel industrial zone as an emblem of coexistence the place Israeli and Palestinian managers and staff work facet by facet, however assaults have taken place there up to now.
In 2018, a Palestinian gunman fatally shot two of his Israeli co-workers in an Israeli-run manufacturing unit on the website and injured a 3rd.
This yr has proved the deadliest within the West Financial institution since 2015. Wafa, citing the Palestinian Well being Ministry, stated that greater than 140 Palestinians had been killed within the West Financial institution for the reason that starting of 2022. The Israeli authorities say that lots of them had been killed whereas finishing up or making an attempt to hold out assaults in opposition to Israelis or in clashes that broke out throughout Israeli arrest raids.
However some had been killed underneath different circumstances. Early Monday, Israeli troopers fatally shot a Palestinian teenager, Sana al-Tal, 19, as she rode as a passenger in a automobile close to Ramallah within the West Financial institution. The Palestinian Ministry of Well being stated she had been shot within the head. The Israeli army stated that troopers within the space recognized a suspicious automobile approaching them and signaled it to cease, however that the male driver accelerated towards them, main them to shoot on the automobile.
Tensions rose after a wave of Arab assaults, primarily in cities inside Israel, killed 19 Israelis and foreigners between March and Could. In response, the Israeli Military started an operation within the northern West Financial institution, finishing up arrest raids on a virtually every day foundation, impeding Palestinian motion within the space and arresting a whole lot of Palestinians.
In the course of the Israeli election marketing campaign, right-wing politicians denounced what they described as an erosion of non-public safety and a lack of Israeli governance.
Yair Lapid, the departing centrist prime minister, stated after the assault on Tuesday, “We’re relentlessly combating terrorism with the total would possibly” of the Israeli army, the interior safety company and different safety forces. “Just lately, now we have succeeded in dismantling intensive terrorist infrastructure and planning,” he stated, “however we should combat this warfare each day anew.”
Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, who’s making a comeback after being ousted from workplace final yr, stated that he was “praying for the injured” and gave his assist to the safety companies.
Bezalel Smotrich, chief of the far-right Spiritual Zionism get together who’s eyeing a key function in Mr. Netanyahu’s rising coalition, wrote on Twitter: “Already on our new Parliament’s first day we obtain a painful reminder of an important and pressing matter on the desk. We should restore safety for all of the residents of Israel and restore the deterrence that has been eroded.”
No Palestinian group instantly took duty for the assault, however a spokesman for Islamic Jihad within the West Financial institution, Tarek Izz al-Din, advised an Islamic Jihad-linked tv channel that his group welcomed what he known as the “heroic assault.” He stated that it got here as a response to the Israeli election outcomes and to Israeli politicians’ calls to take firmer motion in opposition to the Palestinians, Kan radio reported.
Gabby Sobelman contributed reporting from Rehovot, Israel; and Myra Noveck from Jerusalem.
