Hours before fourth and fifth attacks of the day, PM vows to take ‘firm action against terrorists, lawbreakers and inciters’
Amid a spate of attacks that has set the country on edge, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Wednesday that Israel was in the midst of a wave of terror but said that the country had suffered through worse.
Netanyahu hailed Israeli resilience and praised police for their work to crack down on Palestinian unrest, during a visit to a Jerusalem police station.
“We are still in the midst of a wave of terror,” the prime minister told officers on a day which saw five separate attacks on Israelis, including three stabbings.
“We have known worse times than this and we will also overcome this wave of terrorism with determination, responsibility and unity,” he added.
Netanyahu spoke hours after a Palestinian man stabbed a soldier with a pair of scissors and grabbed his gun before fleeing into an apartment in Kiryat Gat. The assailant was shot and killed by police shortly after.
“I want to commend the courage and composure displayed by Israel’s citizens in recent days, as well as today in Jerusalem and Kiryat Gat.”
Wednesday also saw a Palestinian woman stab a man in Jerusalem’s Old City, before he shot and wounded her, and an attack in which a woman was set upon while on a West Bank road after rioters threw rocks at her car and attempted to pull her out of it, according to witnesses.
“We will take firm action against terrorists, lawbreakers and inciters. We have bolstered our troops and are using all means necessary to fight this terrorism,” the prime minister vowed.
Soon after Netanyahu spoke, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli manoutside a mall in Petah Tikva before being arrested at the scene.
In the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor, a 15-year-old Arab boy was arrested after pulling a knife on police officers.
Later in the evening, a Palestinian driver attempted to ram officers manning a checkpoint in the West Bank east of Jerusalem. Two people were reported injured in that attack.
The wave of terrorism comes amid escalating violence and clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, after terror attacks killed four Israelis in the past week.
Three Palestinian teenagers were killed in clashes on Sunday and Monday.
As reported by The Times of Israel