Soldier stabbed by attacker dressed as newsman after mob sets fire to shrine

A Palestinian disguised as a photographer and wearing a yellow vest with the word “press” written on it stabbed and wounded an Israeli soldier on Friday. The attacker was shot and killed by other soldiers. The incident took place just a few metres from a Palestinian protest after Muslim noon prayers in the West Bank city of Hebron. The soldier was taken to hospital for treatment for his wounds. It came hours after a mob of Palestinians set fire to a Jewish shrine in the West Bank. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas denounced the attack on the tomb, saying it “offends our culture and our religion and our values”.

We view this incident with gravity and strongly condemn any attack on holy sites. We will find and arrest those who set the fire

Israeli military

The latest violence came as the Islamic group Hamas called for a day of rage against Israel, with “rallies of anger and confrontations” in all West Bank cities. Troubled first flared when about 100 people rushed the tomb of the biblical patriarch Joseph, in the Palestinian city of Nablus. They were pushed back by Palestinian security forces who arrived on site, but not before setting parts of it aflame. The incident is the latest sign that two weeks of unrest and tit-for-tat killings and knife attacks shows little sign of abating. The U.N. Security Council was due to hold a special meeting to discuss the situation on Friday.

I’ll tell you this, if the attacker … intends to stab me, I will also take out my knife.

Moshe Niddam, a 16-year-old Israeli