Former settler leader thwarts Palestinian knife attacker

A Palestinian woman was run over and shot while attempting to stab an Israeli civilian outside Nablus Sunday morning, Israeli officials and media reports said.

The attempted attack took place at a junction near the Samaria Brigade headquarters in the northern West Bank.

The woman attempted to stab a civilian at the Samaria Junction, the army said.

“Forces and a bystander responded to the immediate threat, shooting the attacker,” an IDF statement read.

The bystander, former Samaria Regional Council head Gershon Mesika, said he rammed his car into the woman after seeing her attempting to stab a girl standing at a bus stop where a number of Israelis were standing.

“I didn’t think twice, pulled the wheel to the right, hit the pedal full speed ahead and hit her,” he said in a video after the incident.

The attacker was subsequently shot by security forces at the scene.

She died at the scene, according to initial reports, but there was no official confirmation.

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The attempted attack is the latest in a wave of terror attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces in Israel and across the West Bank.

Since October 1, 18 people have been killed, including an Eritrean national, a US citizen and a Palestinian bystander, in near-daily stabbing, shooting or car-ramming attacks against Israelis, by mainly Palestinian assailants.

According to Palestinian officials, more than 80 Palestinians have been killed in the same time frame. At least half of them were attackers.

On Saturday, four people were stabbed by an attacker in the city of Kiryat Gat and moderately injured. The suspected attacker, a Palestinian teen from the Hebron area, was captured after a five-hour manhunt.

On Thursday, five people were killed in two separate terror attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank. It was the highest fatality rate in a single day in the latest surge of attacks.