Palestinian shot trying to stab soldiers, IDF says

A Palestinian man was shot by IDF soldiers when he attempted to stab them on Wednesday afternoon, outside the same northern West Bank army base where a similar incident took place the day before, the army said.

No Israelis were reported injured.

A military spokesperson said the assailant tried to attack the troops, who “responded with gunfire.”

According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, the assailant was shot in the stomach.

He was taken to Petah Tikva’s Beilinson Hospital for treatment. He was in “serious condition, unconscious and on a ventilator,” a spokesperson for the medical center said.

He was identified by Palestinian media as Saleh Omar Abd al-Rahim Sah, of the Balata refugee camp near Nablus.

The incident occurred at a bus stop outside the IDF’s Samaria Regional Brigade headquarters, near the Nablus suburb of Hawara, the army said.

On Tuesday, a Palestinian, later identified as 17-year-old Amjad Maher Jaafar, attempted to stab soldiers in the same location, but was shot and critically wounded.

According to the Palestinian Maan news agency, the two assailants were related to one another.

In Tuesday’s attempted attack, the Palestinian suspect “took out a knife and ran at the troops,” according to the army. The soldiers were in immediate danger and thus opened fire at their would-be attacker.

An army spokesperson said at the time that the soldiers followed the “standard” rules of engagement for such an incident.

He too was taken to Beilinson for treatment, a hospital spokesperson said.