JERUSALEM (AP) — A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel on Friday afternoon, killing both, police said. The Israeli military swiftly launched an operation in the assailant's hometown in the occupied West Bank.
The attack started in the northern city of Beit Shean when the Palestinian man rammed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy. He then drove off onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman, and injured another person near the entrance to the city of Afula.
Authorities say the attacker was shot and injured in Afula. He was then taken to hospital; his condition was not immediately known.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the victims as Aviv Maor, a teenager, and Shimshon Mordechai, 68. Paramedics pronounced both dead at the scene.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he was shocked by the “horrific killing spree.” He said that Israel was “committed to reinforcing and strengthening this challenging border and, of course, to bolstering the security response in the area for the full safety of the residents.”
The military enters attacker's hometown
Israel's military soon began amassing troops near the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the assailant was from. Later Friday, the military said that it conducted a “precise operational search at the residence” of the attacker, together with intelligence forces, and was preparing to demolish the residence.
The operation was ongoing in the area, the military said later in the evening.
Israeli forces blocked several roads around the town, where they entered several houses and positioned themselves around the attacker’s home, said the mayor, Ahmad Zakarneh. He added that residents had stocked up on supplies from bakeries and supermarkets after they were notified of the impending military operation.
Katz said that he’d ordered troops to “act forcefully and immediately” against what he called “terrorist infrastructure" in the town.
“Anyone who aids or sponsors terrorism will pay the full price," he said.
A history of raids
It's common practice for Israel to launch raids in the West Bank towns that attackers come from or demolish homes belonging to the assailants’ families. Israel says that it helps to locate militant infrastructure and prevents future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective punishment.
Raids have been conducted in the area of Qabatiya, which is in the northern West Bank near the major city of Jenin, over the last few weeks.
On Dec. 20, Israel's military said that they killed a person in Qabatiya who “hurled a block toward the soldiers.” It later said that the killing was under review, after Palestinian media aired brief security footage in which the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything.
The Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. It has also sparked a surge of violence in Israel and the West Bank, with a rise in attacks by Palestinian militants as well as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.
In September, Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.
Recognizing Somaliland
In a separate development, Israel on Friday became the first country to recognize Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia in East Africa.
It wasn't known why Israel made the declaration now or whether it was expecting something in return.
Earlier this year, U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Israel had approached Somaliland about taking in Palestinians from Gaza as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan at the time to resettle that territory’s population. The United States has since abandoned that plan.
Netanyahu's office said on Friday that he, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Somaliland's president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, signed a joint and mutual declaration “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.”
That's the project that, starting in 2020, established commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority countries — and that Trump sees as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East.
Somaliland, a territory of more than 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia more than three decades ago, but it has not been internationally recognized as an independent state by any country until now.
The foreign ministry of Egypt — a major mediator in the Israel-Hamas war — said on social media that it rejects Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and stressed full support for Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.
The U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement in the Israel-Hamas war specifies that Palestinians won't be expelled from Gaza.
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Omar Faruk contributed to this report from Mogadishu, Somalia.