Two moderately wounded in stabbing attack at checkpoint near Jerusalem
Border police officer, security guard in light-to-moderate condition; assailant, an East Jerusalem resident, shot dead by those he injured
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion settlement bloc in the West Bank Thursday night, police and medics said.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated a woman, later identified as a border security officer in her 20s, and a man, a 25-year-old civilian security guard, at the Mazmuria checkpoint near the southern Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Homa.
Health officials said both were hospitalized and were in light-to-moderate condition.
The alleged assailant, a 24-year-old East Jerusalem resident, was shot dead by security forces at the scene, police said in a statement.
According to a Times of Israel reporter who witnessed the attack, the assailant got out of a car and attacked officers guarding the checkpoint, before being shot by those he’d stabbed.
Security forces launched an investigation into the incident.
Tensions in Israel and the West Bank have been high since October 7, when some 3,000 terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel in a Hamas-led attack, killing at least 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and seizing some 240 hostages.
Israel responded with an aerial campaign and subsequent ground operation with the goal of destroying Hamas and ending its 16-year rule over Gaza and securing the release of the hostages.
The Israel Defense Forces has continued to operate throughout the West Bank and police have been on high alert in Israel, in light of concerns about a possible escalation of violence.
