Stabbing, attempted car attack in West Bank

A Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli outside a supermarket at a West Bank settlement on Friday, as soldiers shot and killed a woman who allegedly tried to ram troops with her car, authorities said.

The two incidents occurred after weeks of attacks by Palestinians targeting Israelis in similar violence, though unrest has waned in recent days.

Clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians also broke out on Friday in the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Hebron.

In the first incident, the army said a Palestinian attempted to ram Israeli soldiers with a car in Hebron and was shot by troops. Israeli police said the alleged attacker was a woman.

"The force identified the threat and responded with fire toward the assailant," a military spokeswoman told AFP.

"The attacker received medical care at the scene," she added.

A statement from the Shaare Zedek hospital said the woman was dead on arrival.

Palestinian medics said the alleged assailant was 72-year-old Sharwat Sharawi, adding that she was driving in pouring rain at the time.

The Israeli military did not immediately confirm the woman's name or provide her age.

Shortly afterwards, a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli at a West Bank settlement north of Jerusalem, the army said.

"A Palestinian attacked and stabbed an Israeli outside a supermarket in Shaar Binyamin, injuring him severely," it said in a statement.

"The assailant fled the scene."

In nearby Ramallah, Palestinians throwing stones clashed with Israeli troops next to the adjacent Israeli settlement of Psagot.

An AFP journalist at the scene said the soldiers fired live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas in response but there was no immediate report of casualties.

There were also sporadic clashes in Hebron following the weekly Friday Muslim prayers, Palestinians said, where one protestor was wounded by in the head by a rubber bullet.

A wave of violence that erupted at the start of October has claimed the lives of nine Israelis, 71 Palestinians -- around half of them alleged attackers -- and an Arab Israeli.

The violence was originally focused in and around Jerusalem, but the epicentre later moved largely to Hebron.

One of the city's residents was named as the man shot dead by troops Thursday when he attempted to attack soldiers at a nearby junction with a knife.

Source: AFP