Tel Aviv stabbing: Female IDF soldier injured, Palestinian assailant shot dead

A Palestinian man stabbed a female Israeli soldier and was subsequently shot dead in Tel Aviv, hours after a similar attack left a student in Jerusalem in critical condition. The woman, a member of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), was assaulted near the Defence Ministry on Begin Avenue, police said, adding the area has now been cordoned off. She reported light injuries to the head, which were caused by a screwdriver, according to broadcaster Channel 2. Other three people were lightly wounded in the attack.

The assailant reportedly snatched her gun and ran away before being gunned down by security forces. The incident triggered chaos and panic in the area. Tel Aviv is less used to episodes of violence than Jerusalem, which has witnessed a spate of stabbing attacks in recent days.

The latest of theseoccurred on the morning of 8 October in the Ammunition Hill area, where a Palestinian teenager stabbed a 25-year-old Israeli student before being arrested. The student was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

The attacks come as tensions run high in the West Bank and East Jerusalem following a wave of violence. On 7 October a teenage Palestinian woman stabbed a Jewish man who subsequently shot her in retaliation in the Old City of Jerusalem, while three other Palestinians were injured as undercover Israeli officers who had infiltrated a protest in the West Bank turned their guns on demonstrators.

Two days earlier, on 5 October, two Palestinian teenagers were shot dead by Israeli troops in two separate incidents in the occupied West Bank. Earlier, Israel banned Palestinians from entering the Old City for the first time since Israel seized the area during the 1967 Six-Day War. The move followed the stabbing of a 15-year-old Israeli by a Palestinian teenager, who was then shot dead by an Israeli officer.

Earlier on 8 October, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned all Israeli minsters and lawmakers from visiting a sensitive holy site in Jerusalem over security concerns.

Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority appealed to the UN Security Council to act to halt Israeli violations of international law, saying some 630 Palestinians have been injured by Israeli troops since 3 October.