Israeli woman lightly wounded in Eilat stabbing

An Israeli woman was lightly injured during a stabbing in the southernmost city of Eilat on Thursday, the police said.

The woman was rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The suspected stabber fled the scene shortly after the attack, according to police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Police arrived in force at the scene to search for the attacker and collect evidence and eyewitness testimony.

An Arab teenager was arrested during a police search and was taken in for further questioning, Samri said.

The motive behind the attack was not yet clear, Samri said, and police were investigating whether it was nationalist or criminal in nature.

Earlier Thursday, a Palestinian man attempted to stab an IDF soldier in Hebron, in the second such attack of the day. The soldier was not hurt in the attack, which took place in the city’s Beit Hadassah neighborhood. The assailant was shot by security services, and police reported that he died of his wounds.

The attack came just four hours after an IDF soldier was lightly wounded in a similar stabbing attack in the city, near the Tomb of the Patriarchs on the road between the West Bank city and the adjacent Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba. According to police, the incident occurred during a violent demonstration. A Palestinian man armed with a knife approached Israeli forces. He stabbed one of the IDF soldiers, slicing his face. The soldier recovered from the blow and fought back. The attacker then tried to assault a Border Police officer and was shot to death.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.