Israel Palestine violence: Stab attack and hit-and-run lead to two more deaths

The wave of violence that has engulfed Israel and the Palestinian territories does not seem to abate, as another two people died in separate attacks on the West Bank on 20 October. In the first incident, a Palestinian man was killed as he attacked a group soldiers, injuring one. Later, an Israeli man was run over and killed by a vehicle after he was forced to leave his own car that was targeted by stone-throwers.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said an officer was attacked by a knife-wielding Palestinian during a "violent riot" near Hebron. The soldier suffered slight wounds, while the assailant, identified by the Palestinian Authority as Adi Hashem al Masalmeh, a 24-year-old from Beit Awwa, was shot dead. He apparently hurled himself towards a group of soldiers that opened fire and killed him, local media reported.

Later, just a few kilometres away, near settlement of Kiryat Arba a man said to be in his 50s was attacked by unknown assailants who tossed rocks at his car. As he a got out of the vehicle, he was rammed by a passing truck and later died despite rescuers' efforts to save him. The truck driver fled the scene but was later apprehended by police. It was not immediately clear if the incident was intentional or not.

The killings bring the death toll of the recent spate of violence to more than 50. Israel's opposition leader Isaac Herzog said the only way out of the downward spiral of turmoil and death was the so-called two-state solution, with the creation of a Palestinian state.

"Jerusalem is the picture of the future binational state we are heading to. The separation between the [Jewish and Palestinian] peoples must become a reality. We must separate from the Palestinians," Herzog told a conference in Tel Aviv. "[We] can't keep living under this illusion that everything is fine and you can just manage the conflict."