Soldier claims he was stabbed; police skeptical

An Israel Defense Forces soldier was hospitalized Monday morning after he claimed he had been stabbed near the central town of Tzur Yitzhak, outside Netanya.

Security forces launched a manhunt for an assailant in the immediate aftermath of the soldier’s complaint, but then called it off and said they were investigating the possibility the soldier had made up the incident.

The unnamed soldier, 20, was taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba with light wounds to his hand, according to a spokesperson from the Magen David Adom rescue services.

Police were “looking into a suspicion of a false report,” a spokeswoman for the Israel Police said, noting that the case had been handed off to the army.

“All possibilities, including a false report, are being taken into account,” the army said.

The alleged incident came during an upsurge in Palestinian attacks, some deadly and many involving knives.

On Sunday, a 30-year-old Israeli woman in the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin was lightly injured in a stabbing attack.

The attacker, a young Arab Israeli woman from the nearby village of Kfar Kassem, was subdued by a security guard and taken into custody without shots being fired.

The stabbing ended a nine-day stretch without attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

In the past six months since the ongoing wave of terror began in October 2015, 29 Israelis and four foreign nationals have been killed. Nearly 200 Palestinians have also been killed, some two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis, and the rest during clashes with troops, according to the Israeli army.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.