IDF: Palestinian tries to stab soldiers in West Bank, is shot
Attacker armed with knife ‘neutralized’ by troops at Gush Etzion Junction, army says; no Israelis injured
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
The Israel Defense forces said that soldiers thwarted an attempted stabbing attack at the West Bank’s Gush Etzion Junction on Thursday.
The troops fired at the Palestinian suspect, who was armed with a knife, and managed to neutralize him while preventing casualties, the army said.
Photos from the scene in the southern West Bank showed emergency medics and soldiers crowded around the injured attacker, whose condition wasn’t immediately clear.
The army later released a statement saying that its initial inquiry found that a soldier identified an assailant running toward him with a knife and shot the attacker in the leg in order to neutralize him.
בהמשך לצומת הגוש קרדיט לעדכונים חמים pic.twitter.com/Jd8ILduc24
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The Gush Etzion Junction and nearby shopping area, which are used by both Israelis and Palestinians, have been the site of several deadly terror attacks in recent years.
In August, 19-year-old Dvir Sorek was walking from a bus stop at the junction toward the nearby Migdal Oz settlement when a Palestinian assailant got out of a passing vehicle and stabbed him to death.
