Palestinian killed trying to stab Israeli officer in West Bank
17-year-old attempts to stab Border Police officer at Tapuah Junction, is shot dead by other troops; one officer hurt by shrapnel
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
Border Police officers shot and killed a Palestinian as he tried to stab one of them at a flashpoint West Bank junction on Saturday, police and medics said. One officer was lightly wounded in the incident.
The Palestinian approached the officers standing at the Tapuah Junction in the northern West Bank. When they called on him to halt, he pulled out a knife and tried to attack them. He was shot and killed, police said.
One officer was lightly wounded in the leg and was being treated by IDF medics and the Magen David Adom rescue service, the MDA said.
Medics initially said the officer, 21, had been stabbed, but later said it appeared that he was wounded by shrapnel from the shots fired. He was taken to the Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah for further treatment.
The Tapuah Junction has been a frequent site of stabbing attacks in recent months.
Police said the attacker was a 17-year-old from the West Bank city of Tul Karem.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified him as Qutaiba Zahran. Channel 2 reported that he had left a note for his parents, saying that he had gone out to carry out a “revenge attack” and not to mourn him because he was now a “martyr”
Since September 2015, mainly Palestinian assailants have killed 48 Israelis, two visiting Americans, a Palestinian man and a British student, mainly in stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks. In that time, some 260 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, a majority of them attackers, according to authorities.
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