A Palestinian teenager who attempted to stab an Israeli soldier near Hebron was shot and killed Tuesday, marking the fifth consecutive day that there has been a terror attack or attempt, The Times of Israel reported.
The dead assailant was identified by Palestinian health officials as 16-year-old Issa Salem Tarayrah. According to the IDF, he had attempted to stab a soldier during a search at a checkpoint, but “was shot by the forces and killed.”
Monday saw four separate incidents or attacks, leading some to worry that a new wave of terror had begun, similar to the one that began around this time last year. Two Palestinian cousins attempted to stab a group of Border Patrol policemen near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron early Monday. The two assailants, identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Muhannad Jamil al-Rajabi, 21, and Amir Jamal al-Rajabi, 17, were shot and killed by the officers.
Also that morning, two Israeli police officers were injured when a Palestinian approached them from behind and began to stab them:
A policewoman remains in serious but stable condition with stab wounds to her neck, while a policeman who suffered multiple stab wounds to his upper body is reported to be in moderate condition. The wounded policeman was able to shoot and critically wound the assailant, identified as 20-year-old Ayman Kurd. Three of Kurd’s brothers have been arrested for expressing support for the attack and are being investigated for possible involvement in helping their brother carry it out.
Later that night, a Palestinian man who had been asked for identification by soldiers attempted to stab them, but he was subdued before he was able to harm either soldier, and a bus driver was injured when his vehicle was stoned in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Haaretz military correspondent Amos Harel wrote Tuesday that the recent escalation in violence is “no surprise,” citing an assessment of Israeli intelligence agencies that “attacks might resume between the Muslim holiday of Id al-Adha and the Jewish holidays in October.”
Harel asserted that the tactics that allowed Israel to combat last year’s wave of terror effectively, including “improved security coordination with the Palestinian Authority and better Israeli monitoring of social media,” will prove to be less helpful over time as attackers adapt to the counter-terror strategy. Palestinian terror attacks – including shootings, stabbings and car rammings – killed 40 people and injured more than 500 from September to July.
Harel also reported that due to better training, Israeli police and soldiers are handling the attacks “more effectively and ending the attacks rapidly.”
A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reacted to the uptick in violence on Friday by condemning Israel for shooting the Palestinian attackers, calling it “a crime and an execution.”
In the past, Abbas has refused to condemn multiple terror attacks—including the recent killing of a 13-year-old Israeli-American girl in her bedroom—and has paid visits to terrorists’ families, telling one group of mothers, “your sons are martyrs.” The PA also pays salaries to Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis, which Israeli officials say act as an economic incentive for terrorism.
Attacks against Israeli civilians have broad support in Palestinian society. A poll released by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research this April found that over 60 percent of Palestinians approve of “armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.”
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