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JERUSALEM — In a violent confrontation on Tuesday in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian assailants killed an Israeli man and injured three others in a combined car-ramming and stabbing assault. Israeli authorities reported that soldiers responded by fatally shooting the attackers.
Authorities disclosed that they discovered explosive materials inside the perpetrators’ vehicle, which were safely neutralized by bomb disposal experts.
According to a spokesperson from the Israeli ambulance service, the attack claimed the life of a 71-year-old Israeli man. Additionally, a woman, a young boy, and another man sustained injuries during the incident.
While no group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, it occurred at a traffic junction situated between Bethlehem and Hebron, near the entrance to the Etzion bloc, a group of Israeli settlements.
Reacting to the incident, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described it as a Palestinian terrorist attack. Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar criticized the Palestinian Authority for not condemning the act, arguing that it reinforced the notion against establishing a Palestinian state.
West Bank Tensions Escalate
The attack was the latest incident in the West Bank, where Palestinians have faced tightened military restrictions and a surge in violent attacks by Jewish settlers since the start of the Gaza war two years ago.
In Gaza, a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas has held since October 10.
Israel has been under mounting international pressure to curb the attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Netanyahu will convene an urgent meeting of ministers and security officials on Thursday to discuss steps to bring Israelis who attack Palestinians to justice, senior officials said.
On Monday, Israelis torched homes and vehicles in Jab’a, a Palestinian village near Bethlehem, after an earlier attack on property and civilians in the village of Sa’ir, the WAFA news agency said, quoting officials.
Defense Chief Promises Unprecedented Steps
Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday the government will take unprecedented steps in coming weeks allocating resources and funding to curbing Israeli violence — a move he expected would have a significant impact.
“The Jewish rioters in Judea and Samaria harm the State of Israel, disgrace Judaism, and cause damage to the settlement project,” Saar posted on X on Monday, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said this month that settlers staged at least 264 attacks on Palestinians in October — the highest monthly tally since the UN began tracking such incidents in 2006.
Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian state existing alongside Israel. Successive Israeli governments have encouraged Israeli settlements to expand rapidly in the West Bank, fragmenting the land.