Attempted stabbing outside of Jenin; Menashe Brigade carries out raid near Tulkarm
By TOVAH LAZAROFF, YAAKOV LAPPINUpdated: JANUARY 12, 2016 02:34Security forces at a checkpoint near Jenin(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
The IDF and civil administration mapped out the home of terrorist Ali Muhammad in Judeida south of Jenin overnight Sunday, ahead of its demolition, the army said.Ali and a second attacker attempted to carry out a stabbing attack against soldiers at Bekaot junction on Saturday.Both were shot dead by soldiers defending themselves against the attack, the IDF said.Outside of Jenin, on Monday morning, a Palestinian assailant tried to stab a soldier while undergoing a security check at a roadblock near the Hermesh settlement.Another soldier on the scene shot and wounded the assailant, Zeid Maher Ashqar, 18, from the village of Seida, northeast of Tulkarm.The Samaria Regional Council distributed photographs of Ashqar lying on the road next to a concrete boulder, while an IDF soldier gave him emergency medical treatment. A separate photo showed the knife on the ground.No soldiers were wounded in the incident. Ashqar, was transferred to the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where he successfully underwent surgery to remove a bullet from the upper part of his body.Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan called on the government to take harsher measures against Palestinians.If an attack happens on a road, that road should then be closed to Palestinians, Dagan said.“Unfortunately the State of Israel is simply reacting to terrorists instead of rooting them out,” he said, adding that with each attack there should be a clear and harsh response.
Separately, the IDF’s Menashe Brigade carried out an arms raid in the village of Irtah, south of Tulkarm, seizing an M-16, a handgun and a large quantity of ammunition.Elsewhere in the West Bank, IDF units raided offices owned by Hamas’s Kutla organization, which is banned by Israeli law. The raid occurred north of Ramallah, and soldiers reported capturing inflammatory material designed to incite disturbances.Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.
