Palestinian killed by Israeli army after alleged stabbing attack

A Palestinian man was killed on Sunday he was shot for allegedly attempting to stab an Israeli soldier at a bus station in the southern city of Beersheva.

The Israeli forces said an "officer was lightly injured as a result of a stabbing attack" as police said the reported attacker was killed by gunfire.

Israeli media said the attacker was a young Israeli citizen whose Palestinian Bedouin clan hails from the Negev (or Naqab) desert region of which Beersheva is the largest city.

"We know his identity and are working to understand the motives," police said.

"He had a long criminal record, and he was supposed to start serving a community service sentence in about two weeks following drug and property crimes," police added.

Medics said they treated a 20-year-old soldier at the scene "with a stab wound to his body" before he was taken to hospital.

Videos shared on social media platforms showed Israeli forces firing heavily at a young man at the station before a number of police officers gathered around him and shot at him.

مصادر عبرية: مشاهد من عملية الطــعن في بئر السبع وإطلاق النار تجاه المنفذ pic.twitter.com/dY08UD6rsf

— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) March 31, 2024

The incident came amid heightened tension in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, where Israeli forces have been accused of war crimes against Palestinians after launching a military offensive on the besieged enclave on 7 October, killing over 32,700 people - mostly women and children.

Before 7 October, rights groups had accused Israel of carrying out unlawful killings, willful injury, arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, persecution and collective punishment against Palestinians, including many children.