IDF: Palestinian tries to stab troops at West Bank bus stop, is shot dead
No Israelis injured; driver of the car that transported the alleged assailant hands himself in after manhunt; incident comes amid relative lull in attacks by Palestinians
Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.
A Palestinian man was shot dead as he attempted to stab soldiers at a bus stop in the central West Bank on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
No Israeli injuries were reported.
“The assailant got out of a car, armed with a knife, and tried to stab an IDF soldier,” the military said.
The soldier opened fire at the man, killing him, according to the IDF. The knife was recovered at the scene.
Troops launched a search to find the car that transported the assailant to the scene, setting up roadblocks in the area. A short while later, the driver of the vehicle turned himself in to Israeli security forces, the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration said.
Video footage from the scene showed the alleged assailant lying on the ground but moving, after he was shot, next to a bus stop full of soldiers near the Gush Etzion Junction.
The assailant was identified by the Palestinian Authority as Faleh Mousa Shakir Jaradat, from the village of Seir near Hebron. The name of the driver was not immediately released.
The soldiers guarding the bus stop were reservists, who were deployed to the area last week.
The attempted attack came amid a general lull in attacks by Palestinians against Israeli soldiers and civilians in the West Bank, following a rise in violence at the end of last year.
Aaron Boxerman contributed to this report.
