Palestinian attempts to stab soldier in West Bank, is shot dead -- IDF

Attack takes place near Barkan Industrial Park, where a terrorist killed Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi last week

A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli forces Monday during an attempt to stab a soldier at the Gitai Junction in the northern West Bank, the army said.

No Israeli troops were injured in the incident and the Israel Defense Forces said it has opened an investigation.

Several hours after the attempted stabbing, the Kan public broadcaster reported that the assailant was a resident of Biddya, the same hometown as a 47-year-old Palestinian mother of eight who was killed late Friday night when a rock was hurled at her car in the northern West Bank.

The woman, Aisha Muhammad Talal Rabi, was driving in the car with her husband near the Tapuah Junction when the rock struck her in the head.

A spokesman for the Shin Bet confirmed Saturday that the security agency opened a probe into the incident, indicating it was suspected of being an act of terror committed by local Jewish settlers.

The nationalistic crime unit of the Israel Police’s Judea and Samaria (West Bank) Distric also launched an investigation into the death, which has been placed under a gag order, although authorities have not ruled out the possibility that a group of Palestinians stone throwers mistook Rabi’s vehicle for an Israeli one.

Monday’s attempted stabbing took place near the Barkan Industrial Park, where a Palestinian shot and killed two of his coworkers — Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi — and wounded a third, Sara Vaturi, last Sunday.

The suspect, Ashraf Na’alowa, fled the scene and has eluded capture. Israeli forces issued a demolition order on Monday for his home.

A 30-year-old reservist soldier was stabbed by a Palestinian assailant in the northern West Bank on Thursday. A civilian woman, 26, was lightly injured in the leg by shrapnel from shots fired at the assailant who fled the scene.

IDF troops aided by Shin Bet and Border Police forces captured the suspected assailant, a 19-year-old Palestinian from the northern West Bank village of Jamma’in, just hours after the attack.

Jacob Magid and Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.