BICOM

The focus of violent attacks against Israelis moved to the West Bank yesterday, with four incidents in and around Hebron resulting in the death of an Israeli man with three wounded.

54-year-old Avraham Asher Hasno died near Kiryat Arba, adjacent to Hebron in a hit and run incident. His car appears to have been pelted with stones and rocks, prompting him to leave the vehicle. Pictures show him then wielding a large stick at a truck driven by a Palestinian, who then ran him over. However, the truck driver later handed himself into Palestinian security officials, claiming that he had not intended to run over Hasno. The Jerusalem Post claims Israeli security forces have launched an investigation into the incident.

Earlier in the day, at the nearby Gush Etzion junction, a Palestinian ploughed into a bus stop on Route 60, lightly wounding a 21-year-old soldier and a 20-year-old man. The assailant exited the vehicle brandishing a knife, but was shot dead by the commander of the Shimshon Battalion who was on the scene.

Also yesterday, another soldier was lightly injured in an attempted stabbing near the West Bank town of Beit Awwa in the Hebron region. The attacker was shot and killed and there were riots near Beit Awwa following the attack. In a similar incident yesterday evening, a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier in Hebron. The soldier was lightly wounded and the attackers were killed at the scene. Meanwhile, an attempted stabbing was foiled this morning near the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. A Palestinian woman armed with two knives was spotted approaching the community. Soldiers fired a warning shot, but she continued to advance and was then shot and treated on the spot.

The IDF carried out an operation against a sniper cell on the Gaza border yesterday, which had been responsible for recent attacks on security forces. The IDF said that the cell was “preparing additional sniper attacks” and that it would “not tolerate attempts to harm Israeli citizens and soldiers.”