Israeli troops slay Palestinian attacker

Soldier stabbed first in West Bank city

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, says goodbye on departure from Israel after meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, en route back to the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, says goodbye on departure from Israel after meetings in Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015, en route back to the United States.

JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian assailant was shot and killed by Israeli forces after stabbing and seriously wounding an Israeli soldier in the West Bank on Wednesday, the latest in two months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The Israeli military said the soldier was stabbed at a junction near the West Bank city of Hebron. Troops on the scene shot the attacker, who later died in a Jerusalem hospital.

The attack comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region to try to calm tensions. Violence ignited in mid-September over tensions surrounding a sensitive Jerusalem holy site and quickly spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The past week has been the deadliest of the outburst so far.

Attacks by Palestinians have killed 19 Israelis, and 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, among them 58 who Israel said were assailants. The rest were killed in clashes with Israeli forces.

Ibrahim Dawoud, a 16-year-old Palestinian, died Wednesday from bullet wounds suffered in clashes with Israeli troops in Ramallah in mid-November, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Israel says the violence stems from Palestinian incitement and incendiary videos on social media. Most of the attackers have been young Palestinians in their teens and early 20s.

The Palestinians say the violence is rooted in frustration over nearly a half century of Israeli occupation and lack of hope for obtaining independence.

There were no signs that Kerry made headway in easing tensions during his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

A Section on 11/26/2015

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