A young Israeli woman was killed and a soldier is in critical condition after separate Palestinian terrorist attacks Monday.
In the first incident, a Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli solider in Tel Aviv. Hours later, another Palestinian terrorist attacked Israelis with a knife, killing a young woman after stabbing her in the neck and injuring two others at a bus stop in the West Bank community of Alon Shvut. The victim has been identified as
Dalia Lamkus, aged either 25 or 26.
Hamas radio identified the bus stop attacker as Maher Hamdi al-Hashalmoun from Hebron, Israel's Channel 10 reported. Hashalmoun reportedly was a released security prisoner. He was shot dead by a guard shortly after the attack.
The terrorist allegedly tried to run over the three people at the bus stop with his minivan. After missing them, he got out of his car and attacked the civilians with a knife.
The stabbings are the latest in a string of Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis throughout the country, especially in Jerusalem. Last week, a Hamas operative rammed his car into a crowd of Israeli pedestrians in Jerusalem, killing a Border Police officer and injuring 14 others.
After claiming responsibility, Hamas called for more terrorist attacks against Israelis. "We call on the people of Jerusalem and the West Bank and all of the Palestinians to carry out more of these activities with full force in order to defend al-Aksa," according to a Hamas' statement.
These latest attacks occurred in context of Fatah calling for a 'Day of Rage' in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' advocating for the "use of all ways" to inhibit Jews from entering the Temple Mount compound, according to a Times of Israel report of a Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) translation.
Last month, a suspected Hamas terrorist similarly crashed his car into a crowd of Israelis at a light rail station in Jerusalem, killing a 3-month-old American-Israeli girl and a woman from Ecuador, in addition to injuring eight others.
Jerusalem is also witnessing a rise in Palestinian attacks, including rock throwing, Molotov cocktails and increased rioting in surrounding neighborhoods.