2 knife attacks on Israelis, Palestinian assailants shot dead

New knife attacks on Israelis in the West Bank left a soldier lightly injured on Thursday, while two Palestinian assailants were shot dead by security forces, police and the army said.

In one incident a Palestinian stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli border guard near a shrine known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the volatile city of Hebron.

“A Palestinian attacked and stabbed a soldier. Security forces responded and shot the attacker. The soldier sustained light injuries,” the army said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the attacker, aged 24, had died.

In the second incident a Palestinian allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier in Hebron, where several knife attacks have taken place in recent days.

“Moments ago forces thwarted the second attempted stabbing on Thursday in Hebron. The Palestinian assailant attempted to stab an IDF soldier at a security post,” read an army statement.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attacker had been shot dead. Both incidents were followed by clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli security forces, according to an AFP journalist on the scene. A wave of such knife attacks and shootings has left nine Israelis dead since early October.