Three Dead, One Wounded in Palestinian Stabbing Attack

Three Israelis were killed and another was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in the Israeli settlement of Halamish in the West Bank on Friday night when a terrorist broke into a home and stabbed its residents.

Paramedics said two men, one in his 60s and another in his 40s, and a woman in her 40s, have died of their wounds sustained in the attack in a home in a settlement. The three were initially listed in critical condition. Earlier reports said a 70-year-old woman was among those critically injured. A fourth woman, in her 60s, was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem in serious condition.

According to a preliminary investigation, the terrorist, a Palestinian youth from a nearby village, arrived in the settlement on foot armed with a knife, climbed a fence and chose the last house on a street near it.

The perpetrator broke a window and entered the home, surprising the four people inside, launching his stabbing spree, Channel 10 reported.

Palestinian media identified him as Omar Al-Abed, 19, from the village of Kubar, near Ramallah. An IDF soldier on leave in a nearby home, upon hearing the sounds, realized that a terror attack was being carried out and shot the terrorist through the window, Channel 10 reported.

It was not clear if the perpetrator was killed.

The attack came after a day of heavy clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police in and around Jerusalem over new security measures at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem following a terror attack last Friday in which three Israeli Arabs killed two Israeli police officers at the site.

Israeli media, citing Palestinian sources, reported that two hours before the attack in Halamish on Friday, the terrorist had published a post on Facebook calling for the need to defend the al-Aqsa mosque, which sits on the Temple Mount alongside the Dome of the Rock sanctuary.

Security forces said they were looking for any additional suspects in the Halamish attack.

MDA paramedics described a "very difficult" scene in the house in the settlement, also known as Neve Tsuf.

"When we went into the house we saw four casualties lying [on the floor] with stab wounds. Three of them were unconscious, with no pulse and [were] not breathing," said Ohad Amitoun with Magen David Adom.

"Another 60-year-old woman was conscious and suffered stab wounds to her upper body. She was treated at the scene and was evacuated by an MDA intensive care ambulance.She was in moderate-serious condition," he added.