BICOM

An Israeli soldier was wounded yesterday after being stabbed near his home in Tel Aviv by a Palestinian teenager wielding a screwdriver.

The attack took place on Yigal Allon Street, not far from the military’s headquarters. However, the soldier appeared to be heading home when he was accosted by a Palestinian, who stabbed him in his upper body. The soldier was treated on the scene before being admitted to a nearby hospital, where he was said to have suffered light to moderate injuries, but was fully conscious. The assailant fled but was soon caught by police. He is said to be a 19-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank town of Salfit. Police confirmed that the attack appeared to be nationalistically motivated.

A wave of mainly stabbing and vehicle attacks since October, which killed at least 31 Israelis, appears to have slowed in recent weeks. Yesterday’s attack was the first in Tel Aviv since a Palestinian stabbed 13 people in multiple locations near the Jaffa port and promenade in March. An American tourist was killed in the attack.

Also yesterday, it was announced that the Israeli army, police and Shin Bet security service carried out a joint operation to arrest six Hamas operatives, who are thought to have been responsible for a bus bombing in Jerusalem last month. The bombing on the number twelve bus injured twenty people. The suicide bomber, Abd al-Hamid Abu Srur, died of his wounds the following day. However, his alleged accomplices have now been arrested. All are from the Bethlehem area in the West Bank. According to the Shin Bet, the group was planning additional suicide bombings, shootings and car bombings. One of the suspects had already assembled a home-made weapon which he fired at Israeli cars near Tekoa in the West Bank.

Meanwhile, three teenagers from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabel Mukabeer were also arrested yesterday, suspected of having stabbed two elderly women earlier this month walking in a popular local forest.