At least one person was killed and three others injured in an attack at an intersection in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, Israeli emergency services said.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), people were attacked in a vehicle ramming and stabbing incident at Gash Etzion Junction.
Elad Paz, a paramedic with Israel’s emergency response service Magen David Adom (MDA), said the man died at the scene from “severe stab wounds.”
One of the injured, a woman, is in critical condition, Paz said. Paramedics said the man and the teenage boy were also in moderate condition.
The military said the two “terrorists” were “eliminated” by IDF soldiers at the scene of the attack.
“Multiple explosive devices were found in the vehicle used by the terrorists and are currently being neutralized by bomb disposal experts from the Israeli Border Police,” it said in a statement.
Stabbings and ramming attacks in Israel, Jerusalem, and the West Bank are not uncommon, occurring with some regularity at checkpoints, transportation hubs, and other crowded public areas.
There has also been a recent spike in violence in the West Bank. A United Nations report released earlier this month found that Israeli settlers launched at least 264 attacks in October, the most since the United Nations began tracking incidents in 2006.
Palestinians and activists have been assaulted and detained while peacefully harvesting olives. Last week, a mosque in the West Bank was set on fire and spray-painted with graffiti. On Monday, dozens of Israeli settlers set fire to Palestinian vehicles and homes in a West Bank village after Israeli forces destroyed an illegal settler outpost structure in the area.
The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad praised Tuesday’s attack, saying it was “a response to the crimes that settler gangs and occupation forces continue to commit against our people.”
The extremist group did not claim responsibility, but said it confirmed “the determination of our people to fight against policies of oppression and abuse by all means possible.”
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called the attack “serious” and said it claimed “the lives of young Israelis.”
“I support the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces and security forces to restore order and eradicate terrorism. I express my warm condolences to the families of the murdered victims and wish them a speedy recovery for the injured,” Lapid said.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
