Two people have been killed in what police call a “series of terrorist attacks” in northern Israel.
Police said the attacker rammed a pedestrian in the eastern city of Beit Shean before driving his car and stabbing a woman near Ein Harod, about 8 miles (12.5 kilometers) to the west. According to police, the suspect was eventually shot and wounded by a civilian outside Afula.
Friday’s clashes left a 68-year-old man, Shimshon Mordechai, dead, a 16-year-old boy injured, and the stabbing victim was 18-year-old Aviv Maor, officials said.
A day before the attack, an Israeli reservist was fired after a video emerged of him hitting a praying Palestinian with a quad bike.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the suspect in the attack was from the village of Kabatiya in the northern occupied West Bank.
Following the incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was preparing to carry out operations in the Kabatiya area. Katz said he had instructed the IDF to act “strongly and immediately.”
The IDF said the suspect “infiltrated Israeli territory a few days ago.”
Israel’s Khan News public broadcaster said the 37-year-old man was working illegally in Israel and used his employer’s vehicle in the attack.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his “deepest condolences” to the families of the victims.
In his post on X, he also praised “heroic citizens who neutralized terrorists.”
The incident occurred a day after an Army reservist drove a quad bike into a Palestinian man who was praying on the side of the West Bank.
The video shows a man dressed in civilian clothes holding a firearm and ramming the victim with a vehicle. According to reports, the victim was not injured.
The Israeli military said a soldier who had earlier opened fire in a nearby village was shot dead and his weapons confiscated.
Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have surged in the West Bank in recent years, with more than 1,000 killed since an Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas that left about 1,200 people dead and 251 kidnapped in the Gaza Strip, according to the United Nations.
More than 70,600 people have since died in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.
Additional reporting by Tom McArthur
