One injured in West Bank stabbing attack

One person was injured in a stabbing attack in the southern West Bank Sunday morning, and troops were searching for the attacker.

The attack occurred near the settlement of Metzad, east of the Etzion settlement bloc south of Jerusalem.

The victim, a middle-aged man, sustained moderate injuries to his upper body and was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, according to initial reports.

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He was stabbed after exiting his car when it was pelted with stones, the Israeli army said.

“Initial reports suggest that moments before the attack the Israeli exited his car due to rocks hurled at the road,” the army said in a statement. “The Palestinian then attacked the Israeli, stabbing him in his chest.”

Troops launched a search for the stabber, who fled the scene. Some reports suggested there may have been more than one attacker, and they were dressed as ultra-Orthodox Jews,

Initial reports falsely claimed that the attacker had been shot.

A paramedic estimated the victim’s age at 58 and said he had suffered a stab wound and injuries from a rock that hit his head.

Israel has suffered a spate of stabbing, rock-throwing and car-ramming attacks over the past several weeks, as well as daily clashes between Palestinians and troops in the West Bank.

A number of attacks last week occurred after victims left a car which had been pelted by stones.

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Earlier Sunday morning, a Palestinian man was arrested near the Tapuah Junction in the West Bank after a knife was found in his belongings.

The man was planning to carry out a terror attack, officers said.

Also on Sunday, police arrested an Arab man who was traveling on a bus and had expressed his intention to become a shahid, or martyr.

The man boarded the bus on Route 90 near Kibbutz Gesher, several kilometers south of Tiberias, and was apprehended when the bus reached Tiberias.

Police officers took the man off the bus and found a knife and a kippa in his belongings.

Since the latest round of fighting began, 10 Israelis have been killed and dozens more injured. Over 40 Palestinians have been killed, at least half of them assailants according to Israel, and over 100 injured.