‘Palestinian attacker in Jenin posed as Krembo seller’

The Palestinian attacker shot dead by Israeli security forces Saturday morning at a checkpoint near Jenin as he tried to stab a security guard posed as a seller of Krembo, a popular chocolate-and-marshmallow Israeli winter treat.

The Defense Ministry said the teenager, identified as Muhammad Zakarna, 16 from Kabatiyeh in the northern West Bank, carried a box full of the treat as he approached the checkpoint.

According to the ministry, the Palestinian teenager was moving between cars waiting at the checkpoint leading into Israel, where IDF soldiers were checking identification cards. Suddenly, he tossed the box aside and ran toward security forces knife in hand before being shot.

The incident occurred at the Jalama checkpoint, or the Gilboa crossing, at the northern entrance to the West Bank City.

The checkpoint is manned by private security guards alongside IDF troops.

No one on the Israeli side was hurt in the attack.

The teen’s parents have been asked to identify his body, Maariv newspaper reported on its website Saturday.

The incident came after a reported attempted stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City earlier Saturday.

Police were searching for a suspect after an Israeli man told police that an Arab man tried to stab him on Nablus Road in the capital.

The Israeli told officers that he was walking on the road when he heard some yelling and turned around to find an Arab man wielding a knife. According to his account, he fought off his would-be attacker, who then fled in the direction of Damascus Gate, tossing the knife as he did so.

The Israeli man reportedly handed the knife over to police, who launched a search for the suspect.

On Friday, two Israeli parents and their three young children were wounded in a firebombing attack on their car near the settlement of Beit El, in the West Bank north of Jerusalem.

The family members suffered burns of various degrees. The youngest girl, aged four, was moderately hurt. Her brother, 12-year-old sister and mother and father were lightly injured.

The five were treated at the scene by Magen David Adom medics and evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital for further treatment.

A series of Palestinian attacks on Israelis, and Israeli-Palestinian clashes, have erupted in recent weeks over Palestinian claims that Israel was planning to change the status quo, despite vehement denials from the Jewish state.

Nine Israelis have been killed and dozens injured in a string of attacks since the beginning of the month. At least 50 Palestinians have also died, many while carrying out stabbing attacks on Israelis and others in clashes with security forces.

AFP contributed to this report.