Palestinian Tries to Stab Israeli Soldier with Screwdriver

A Palestinian man, armed with a screwdriver, attempted to carry out a stabbing attack on an Israeli soldier in the northern West Bank on Wednesday morning and was shot, according to the army.

The attempted stabbing took place in Hawara, south of Nablus, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The soldier had been on guard duty in the area at the time of the attack, the army said. Troops on the scene shot the attacker, who received first aid at the scene, the IDF said.

No Israeli injuries were reported. The condition of the assailant was not immediately known.

He was later identified by the Red Crescent ambulance service as Muhammad Amer, 32, from Tulkarem, according to the Palestinian Ma'an news outlet.

Last week, Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian assailant as he attempted to stab them near the West Bank settlement of Ofra. The Palestinian approached the servicemen with a knife near a bus stop outside the settlement northeast of Ramallah, where the soldiers had been standing guard, according to the Israel Defense Forces. In response, the soldiers opened fire at the attacker, killing him, the army said.

A year of Palestinian terrorism and violence has seen 36 Israelis, two Americans and an Eritrean national killed in stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks. According to AFP figures, some 238 Palestinians, a Jordanian and a Sudanese migrant have also been killed, most of them in the course of carrying out attacks, Israel says, and many of the others in clashes with troops in the West Bank and at the Gaza border, as well as in Israeli airstrikes in the Strip.