From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 23, 2026
Armed civilian shot stabbing suspects, IDF says as officials probe how blaze ignited
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleEmanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
An armed Israeli civilian shot dead the two Palestinian terrorists who stabbed an Israeli man in the West Bank earlier, the military says.
Settlers from the Derech Avraham outpost had been working to extinguish a fire allegedly set by Palestinians in the area.
“During the firefighting efforts, two terrorists stabbed an Israeli citizen. Another civilian who was at the scene identified the attack and eliminated the two terrorists,” the IDF says.
The IDF says the man who was seriously wounded in the attack was airlifted to a hospital by the Israeli Air Force’s elite Unit 669.
The Palestinian Red Crescent says the two men, aged 40 and 43, were struck by bullets in the abdomen, in a statement carried by the Palestinian Authority’s Wafa news agency. It does not confirm that they were killed.
Troops have encircled Beit Furik following the incident and are carrying out searches in the area, the army adds.
Meanwhile, police officers and firefighters are investigating the circumstances of the fire, which the army had blamed on Palestinians from the nearby town of Beit Furik.
According to Wafa, the fire was started by Israeli settlers from the area.
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