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An Israeli border policeman and a soldier were stabbed in separate incidents by Palestinian assailants in weekend attacks. One of the attackers was shot and killed by Israeli forces.

The first attack took place on Saturday morning at an IDF checkpoint near Beit Oron on the 443 highway, between Modi’in and Jerusalem. According to an initial investigation, the Palestinian attacker, Mahmoud Nasim Yousef Gumhouriyya of Beit Annan near Ramallah, asked one of the soldiers for water. While the soldier turned to comply with the request, he was stabbed in the upper body. Gumhouriyya was shot by another soldier and apprehended. Both the soldier and assailant were lightly wounded and taken to hospital in Jerusalem for treatment. The incident took place not far from a petrol station where last Sunday, an Israeli civilian filling his car was stabbed in the forecourt by a Palestinian.

On Saturday evening, a border policeman was stabbed at a checkpoint near Nablus in the direction of the Palestinian village of Huwara. The attacker, 16-year-old Rafik Kamal al-Taj, apparently approached a group of servicemen before stabbing one of them in the back. He was quickly and fatally shot by another border policeman.

There is no indication yet that either incident was the work of an organised terror group. During the past several months, there have been numerous incidents of Palestinian individuals, seemingly of their own accord, attacking Israeli civilians and servicemen with vehicles and knives. In addition, terror cells were recently apprehended for the shooting and murder of two Israelis in the West Bank earlier this summer.

Responding to the weekend attacks, Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon said “Anyone that tries to harm IDF soldiers or Border Police officers should know that they are taking their lives into their own hands.” The Zionist Union opposition party praised the IDF and Border Police for “acting quickly and professionally … and working day and night to protect the security of Israel and its citizens.”