Israeli sources reported that an Israeli settler of the Yitzhar illegal settlement, near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, was stabbed to death by a Palestinian man near the Za’tara roadblock.The Al-Aqsa Brigades, the armed wing of Fateh movement, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Brigades issued a press release stating; “this is the first attack, one of many operations to come, in retaliation to the ongoing Israeli violations and crimes against the Palestinian detainees, and the Palestinian people”, the Palestine News Network (PNN) has reported.
Israeli daily, Haaretz, reported that this is the first fatal attack carried out by the Palestinians since September of 2011. The slain Israeli man has been identified as Eviatar Borovzky, 30.
The stabber was identified as Salam Za’al, who managed to escape despite being shot and injured by Israeli soldiers. He was later arrested after the army invaded the Shweika neighborhood in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, and surrounded his home.
Lieutenant Jibreel Al-Bakry, governor of the northern West Bank district of Nablus, reported that the Palestinian young man stabbed the settler after he attacked him.
Al-Bakry added that Za’al suffered serious injuries after being shot by soldiers stationed on military towers in the area.
Following the attack, a group of extremist Israeli settlers attacked two Palestinian buses transporting female school students on a field trip, and hurled stones at dozens of Palestinian vehicles; at least 20 Palestinians have been injured, some were moved to local hospitals.
The settlers closed main junctions in Nablus, burnt tires and hurled stones at dozens of Palestinian vehicles; damages were reported, no injuries.
They also set ablaze Palestinian olive trees that belong to villagers of Huwwara, Aseera Al-Qibliyya, Madama and Orif, all near Nablus.
A number of settlers hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles near the Ennab roadblock, east of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.
In related news, a young Palestinian man was stabbed and seriously injured in Jerusalem, and was moved to the Hadassah Israeli hospital in the city.
Israeli sources reported that the Palestinian youth was stabbed near Mea Shearim; an area largely inhabited by Haredi orthodox Jews, and added that the Police initiated an investigation into the attack.
