Nearly half of all Palestinian terrorists are aged 20 or less — Shin Bet
24 attackers between October and February were female; 9 were Arab Israelis and 36 East Jerusalemites, security service’s stats show
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
Nearly half of the Palestinian terrorists who have carried out attacks or attempted attacks against Israelis during the current round of violence have been aged 20 or less, and more than one in 10 have been female, according to figures released Monday by the Shin Bet security service.
Nearly two-thirds of the 228 attacks and attempted attacks between October 1, 2015, and February 10, 2016, were carried out in the West Bank, the figures showed.
A high proportion of the West Bank terrorists — 69 out of 174 (some 40%) — came from the Hebron and Yattir region.
In addition, nine of the attackers were Arab Israelis, and 36 were from Jerusalem, according to the figures of the security services.
Violence within the Green Line has remained relatively low; 10% of attacks took place in Israel proper, the agency said. In addition, Jerusalem was targeted in 16% of the attacks.
Twenty-one terrorists who carried out attacks inside Israel were within the Green Line illegally, while two were in Israel legally. One of those was a Sudanese refugee living in Ashkelon. Representatives of the Sudanese community said Kamel Hassan, who stabbed and lightly injured a 20-year-old soldier last week before being shot, was mentally ill.
Of the 219 attackers, 155 were between the ages of 16 and 25, with another 22 below the age of 16. Eleven percent (24) were female, and 89% (195) male.
The Shin Bet said its statistics only include “significant attacks.”
The security service said last week that the number of terrorist attacks recorded in Israel in January was 32 percent lower than in December, bringing the total to a level that was last observed prior to September’s escalation in violence.
The service documented 169 terrorist attacks by Palestinians on Israelis in January, compared to 246 such incidents the previous month, the Shin Bet wrote in its monthly report.
At least 30 Israelis and more than 170 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the upswing in violence. The vast majority of the Palestinians died while attacking or trying to attack Israelis; others died during clashes and demonstrations.