Palestinian police foil stabbing attack at checkpoint — report

Palestinian security forces thwarted a stabbing attack on Monday evening when they stopped a man who was heading to a West Bank checkpoint carrying a knife, the Hebrew-language Ynet website reported.

The incident happened at the Gilboa checkpoint in the northern West Bank. Palestinian police apprehended the suspect as he approached the crossing from the West Bank into Israel. A search uncovered the knife and during questioning the suspect admitted he was planning to knife Israelis, the report said.

On Friday, a group of Israeli settlers, including three off-duty soldiers, were rescued by the mayor of a Palestinian village in the northern West Bank after they entered the area and were quickly set upon by local residents, the army said at the time.

The four Israelis entered the village of Qusra, east of Ariel, on Friday morning. Once inside the village, residents of the hamlet surrounded the group and began throwing rocks at them, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

In response, the armed Israelis fired shots into the air.

The mayor of the village, Abdul Azeem al-Wadi, along with an activist from the Rabbis for Human Rights organization stepped in to rescue and detain the four settlers — who apparently came from the nearby Esh Kodesh outpost — for their own safety, according to Rabbis for Human Rights.

The group was then handed over to Israeli security forces, the army said.

In November 2016, Palestinian security forces said they had passed on information to Israeli forces about a large bomb attack they suspected was being planned against IDF forces in the Hebron area.

The bomb, made up of an explosive charge attached to a large gas canister, was hidden next to the Mishtara checkpoint on the outskirts of the southern West Bank city.

The bomb was found on the side of the checkpoint controlled by Palestinian security.

It was safely detonated by sappers from the Israel Police bomb squad.