Palestinian shot after stabbing two Israelis

Man shot after he entered supermarket in occupied West Bank and stabbed two Israeli civilians, Israeli police say.


A Palestinian man has been shot and injured by an Israeli security guard, after he entered a supermarket in the West Bank and stabbed two Israeli civilians, police said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said a 16-year-old Palestinian entered the supermarket in the settlement of Maaleh Adumium, east of Jerusalem, and stabbed two Israeli shoppers.

Samri said the two shoppers, in their 50s, were moderately wounded and taken to a hospital in Jerusalem.

Police said the alleged attacker was from the village of Al-Azariya east of Jerusalem. Maaleh Adumium is around 10km from Al-Azariya.

The security guard shot the attacker in the legs and police later arrested him, Samri said.

David Assaraf, the spokesman for Israeli police in the West Bank, told the AFP news agency that officers were called to the scene after gunfire was reported, finding the two Israelis and the alleged attacker lying wounded on the ground.

"Two more [Palestinians] were arrested and are under investigation," he said.

Police said they were caught trying to flee the scene but provided no further details about how they may have been involved.

Tensions in Jerusalem and the West Bank have been high since June, when Palestinians kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. Israelis retaliated by abducting and burning alive a Palestinian teenager in East Jerusalem.

The kidnappings set off a series of events that led to the 50-day Gaza war, which left more than 2,100 Palestinians and 71 Israelis dead.

Revenge attacks from both sides have been happening since summer.