Israeli soldier stabbed in West Bank, shoots attacker
26-year-old soldier sustains light to moderate injuries to the upper body, shoots assailant in the shoulder
An Israeli soldier was stabbed and lightly to moderately wounded Friday morning in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, south of Jerusalem.
According to the Hebrew-language Maariv website, the victim, a 26-year-old man, was stabbed in the shoulder. The attacker was shot and wounded by the soldier.
The soldier was conscious after the attack and received medical treatment at the scene before being evacuated to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, the Magen David Adom rescue services said.
According to an initial investigation, the soldier was guarding an olive harvest near the settlement of Neve Michael — near the checkpoint in the area of Tzomet Gvaot in the West Bank — when he was attacked, Channel 2 reported. The soldier shot his assailant in the shoulder. When the attacker tried to flee, other forces in the area shot him in the knee in order to stop him.
Israel’s Walla news website said the attacker was a 16-year-old resident from the village of Surif, in the Hebron region of the West Bank.
Video from the scene in Gush Etzion stabbing. pic.twitter.com/vM3nKEg43I
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) October 23, 2015
The assault is the latest in a series of attacks — primarily stabbings — against Israeli civilians and soldiers, which have left at least 10 Israelis dead and dozens more wounded.
On Thursday, a young Israeli man was stabbed and wounded outside a synagogue in the central town of Beit Shemesh. His attackers, two 20-year-old Hamas supporters from the Hebron region of the West Bank, were shot at the scene. One of the two was killed and the other badly wounded.
