Jerusalem24 – Israeli forces fatally shot a Palestinian man on Tuesday after he stabbed three Israeli settlers to death and seriously wounded three others near the illegal Israeli settlement of Ariel near Salfit in the occupied West Bank.
18-year-old Mohammad Al-Souf, who attacked the settlers at two different locations within the Ariel settlement, was shot dead by Israeli forces after fleeing the scene in a vehicle and crashing with a car.
The Israeli military closed the village of Haris in the Salfit governorate, Souf’s hometown, after raiding the village and erecting dirt mounds and military barriers to seal the roads.
Palestinian media reported that Souf’s uncle and cousin were arrested by the military.
The Israeli army issued orders to the West Bank military division to raise the state of alert among the forces in the next 72 hours following the attack.
The Chief of Staff of the Israeli army, Aviv Kochavi, went to the site at the entrance of the industrial zone in the settlement where one of the three settlers, a security guard, was killed.
Kochavi said the operation in the Ariel settlement “should have ended differently”, adding that the Israeli army “will investigate the incident and learn from it.”
Settler attacks intensified after the Ariel attack, with different locations in the West Bank, especially near illegal settlements and main junctions, witnessing attacks on Palestinian vehicles by Israeli settlers.
