Palestinian stabs 80-year-old woman, others in latest attack

JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian attacked and wounded several people, including an 80-year-old woman, in a stabbing spree in central Israel hours after Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian who they say tried to stab a soldier in the West Bank on Monday, in the latest incidents in more than a month of violence.

Israeli media said a Palestinian stabbed a woman on a bus and then ran into the street and stabbed another woman before continuing to run down the street and carrying out another attack. Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri said that after stabbing the first two people, the Palestinian, a 19-year-old from the West Bank city of Hebron, tried to enter a clothing shop but a woman in the store slammed a door on him. The Palestinian then went into another store and stabbed a woman. Bystanders apprehended him and then police on motorcycles detained him.

Yitzhak Scharf of Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center said that 80-year-old woman was stabbed in the back and waist and sustained damage to blood vessels and fractured her hip. A 40-year-old man was stabbed multiple times in the chest. Another person was lightly wounded he said.

The military said the earlier incident in the West Bank was the third attempted stabbing near the checkpoint between the West Bank and Israel in recent weeks. After soldiers approached two Palestinians at a gas station, one attempted to stab a soldier with a knife before the soldiers shot him, the army said.

Forces treated the wounded Palestinian at the scene, the army said, but he died of his wounds. Palestinian officials said he was 16 years old. The other Palestinian was arrested. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said he was wounded in the incident.

Video later emerged of a Palestinian smashing a female tour guide over the head with a bottle and then running away outside Jerusalem’s Old City. Police said they later apprehended the Palestinian.

A series of Palestinian attacks linked to tensions over a sensitive Jerusalem holy site began in mid-September. In addition to the near-daily attacks, violent demonstrations have erupted in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, with Palestinian stone-throwers clashing with Israeli troops.

Eleven Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, mostly stabbings. Sixty-nine Palestinians have died by Israeli fire, including 43 who Israel says were involved in attacks or attempted attacks.

Rights groups say some of the killings were unjustified because the Palestinians did not pose a threat to soldiers’ lives.

Israeli media reported that a military investigation found that the shooting death of an 18-year-old Palestinian woman by Israeli forces last month could have been avoided.

The woman was shot as she brandished a knife at a military checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron, according to the army’s account.

The military said the woman refused to heed repeated warnings to stop and that shots were then fired when troops felt threatened.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, Palestinian security forces held a military salute at a funeral ceremony for two Palestinians killed by Israeli fire. One had tried to grab a soldier’s rifle in Jerusalem, and the other had tried to stab a soldier at a West Bank checkpoint, according to the Israeli military.

The Palestinian Authority has been holding official funeral parades in recent weeks in order to prevent militant groups like Hamas from using such ceremonies to whip up popular support, a senior Palestinian security official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the practice.