Two Palestinians, including a teen, attacked Israelis with knives and a car in the occupied West Bank Sunday and were killed when civilians and security forces intervened, the latest in a nearly two-month wave of violence.
No Israelis were reported seriously wounded in the separate attacks, which occurred after the violence had shown signs of subsiding last week before a new series of assaults began Thursday.
With the attacks defying international efforts to restore calm, US Secretary of State John Kerry is to travel to Israel and the West Bank to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday.
Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that the attackers appeared to be acting on their own, posing a challenge to security forces.
"This is not terrorism by organisations," he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
"This is terrorism by individuals, occasionally with kitchen knives, who are incited mainly by social media. It is very difficult to hermetically prevent the arrival of such knife-wielding, or other, terrorists to this or that place."
He said "citizens must be on maximum alert".
Sunday's first attack saw a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who tried to stab an Israeli civilian run over by a Jewish settler then shot dead by soldiers.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack occurred at a junction south of Nablus, adding that "forces and a bystander responded to the immediate threat, shooting the attacker".
Palestinian security officials confirmed she had died of her wounds and identified her as Asheraqat Qatanani, from Askar refugee camp near Nablus.
A Jewish settler in the area, Gershon Mesika, told army radio he hit the assailant with his car before a soldier shot her.
Later, a Palestinian driving a taxi attempted to ram into civilians then charged at them with a knife before being shot dead by a civilian, police said.
The statement provided no further details on the civilian. A hospital spokeswoman said a 51-year-old Israeli was lightly wounded by the car ramming.
The attacks were the latest in the wave of violence since October 1 that has left 88 dead on the Palestinian side, including one Arab Israeli, as well as 15 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.
Many of the Palestinians killed have been alleged attackers.
- Kerry seeks to ease tensions -
A nearly week-long lull in the violence was shattered on Thursday when knife, gun and car-ramming attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank killed five people, including an American, three Israelis and a Palestinian.
It was one of the deadliest days since the violence began in October.
On Friday, dozens of Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in clashes in the West Bank and along the Gaza Strip border, while on Saturday, police arrested a Palestinian who allegedly stabbed four Israelis in southern city Kiryat Gat.
Israel's Shin Bet internal security service on Sunday identified the alleged assailant as Mohammad Tarda, 18, from a village near southern West Bank city Hebron.
Netanyahu said he had ordered security forces to "coordinate their efforts in the Hebron district, from which most or all of the attacks are originating".
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, he noted the "arrests and roadblocks there".
The army said they had arrested eight Palestinians in the Hebron area overnight.
Palestinian security forces said 16 were arrested, and residents said many roadblocks were set up at the exits to the city and villages in the area.
Kerry's trip will mark his latest bid to ease tensions, having met Netanyahu in Washington this month and in Berlin in October.
He also met Abbas in Amman last month as well as Jordan's King Abdullah, and endorsed a plan to install security cameras around the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Clashes in September between Israeli police and Palestinians at the highly sensitive compound, sacred to both faiths and which Jews revere as the Temple Mount, preceded the current wave of violence.
US officials said they were not expecting to strike any new agreement on a return to peace talks during Kerry's visit and would simply try to walk the parties back from the immediate violence.
Two Palestinians, including a teen, attacked Israelis with knives and a car in the occupied West Bank Sunday and were killed when civilians and security forces intervened, the latest in a nearly two-month wave of violence.
No Israelis were reported seriously wounded in the separate attacks, which occurred after the violence had shown signs of subsiding last week before a new series of assaults began Thursday.
With the attacks defying international efforts to restore calm, US Secretary of State John Kerry is to travel to Israel and the West Bank to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Tuesday.
Netanyahu on Sunday reiterated that the attackers appeared to be acting on their own, posing a challenge to security forces.
“This is not terrorism by organisations,” he said at the start of a cabinet meeting.
“This is terrorism by individuals, occasionally with kitchen knives, who are incited mainly by social media. It is very difficult to hermetically prevent the arrival of such knife-wielding, or other, terrorists to this or that place.”
He said “citizens must be on maximum alert”.
Sunday’s first attack saw a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who tried to stab an Israeli civilian run over by a Jewish settler then shot dead by soldiers.
The Israeli military said in a statement that the attack occurred at a junction south of Nablus, adding that “forces and a bystander responded to the immediate threat, shooting the attacker”.
Palestinian security officials confirmed she had died of her wounds and identified her as Asheraqat Qatanani, from Askar refugee camp near Nablus.
A Jewish settler in the area, Gershon Mesika, told army radio he hit the assailant with his car before a soldier shot her.
Later, a Palestinian driving a taxi attempted to ram into civilians then charged at them with a knife before being shot dead by a civilian, police said.
The statement provided no further details on the civilian. A hospital spokeswoman said a 51-year-old Israeli was lightly wounded by the car ramming.
The attacks were the latest in the wave of violence since October 1 that has left 88 dead on the Palestinian side, including one Arab Israeli, as well as 15 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.
Many of the Palestinians killed have been alleged attackers.
– Kerry seeks to ease tensions –
A nearly week-long lull in the violence was shattered on Thursday when knife, gun and car-ramming attacks in Tel Aviv and the West Bank killed five people, including an American, three Israelis and a Palestinian.
It was one of the deadliest days since the violence began in October.
On Friday, dozens of Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire in clashes in the West Bank and along the Gaza Strip border, while on Saturday, police arrested a Palestinian who allegedly stabbed four Israelis in southern city Kiryat Gat.
Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service on Sunday identified the alleged assailant as Mohammad Tarda, 18, from a village near southern West Bank city Hebron.
Netanyahu said he had ordered security forces to “coordinate their efforts in the Hebron district, from which most or all of the attacks are originating”.
Speaking at the weekly cabinet meeting, he noted the “arrests and roadblocks there”.
The army said they had arrested eight Palestinians in the Hebron area overnight.
Palestinian security forces said 16 were arrested, and residents said many roadblocks were set up at the exits to the city and villages in the area.
Kerry’s trip will mark his latest bid to ease tensions, having met Netanyahu in Washington this month and in Berlin in October.
He also met Abbas in Amman last month as well as Jordan’s King Abdullah, and endorsed a plan to install security cameras around the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Clashes in September between Israeli police and Palestinians at the highly sensitive compound, sacred to both faiths and which Jews revere as the Temple Mount, preceded the current wave of violence.
US officials said they were not expecting to strike any new agreement on a return to peace talks during Kerry’s visit and would simply try to walk the parties back from the immediate violence.
