Palestinian woman tries to stab troops in West Bank, is shot dead — IDF
No soldiers harmed in incident near Kiryat Arba settlement; alleged assailant identified as 20-year-old woman
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Israeli troops foiled an attempted stabbing attack near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, the military said Wednesday.
The Israel Defense Forces said a female Palestinian assailant tried to stab troops of the Kfir Brigade’s Shimshon Battalion, who were stationed at an army post at a junction near the settlement.
“The troops engaged and opened fire at the terrorist who held a knife and charged toward the force,” the military said.
The woman was killed, the army said. No troops were hurt in the incident.
The official Palestinian news agency WAFA identified the alleged assailant as Maimouna Abdel Hamid Harahsheh, 20.
Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before October 7 — when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and abduct over 250 — has escalated throughout the war sparked by the onslaught, with frequent army raids on terror groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages and deadly Palestinian street attacks.
Earlier this week, soldiers shot dead three Palestinians who attacked them in separate incidents near Hebron and in the Jordan Valley.
Troops also arrested Ahmed Dawabsha, 21, a resident of the West Bank town of Duma, near Ramallah, who is alleged to have been involved in the murder of 14-year-old Benjamin Achimeir, who was found dead on April 13, a day after setting out from an illegal West Bank outpost to herd sheep.
Since October 7, troops have arrested some 3,850 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,650 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority’s health ministry, more than 480 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.
