• The attack marks the latest violence to flare up in the area as Israel deepens its military offensive in Gaza

JERUSALEM: A knife-wielding assailant stabbed and seriously wounded a female Israeli soldier before being shot dead in annexed east Jerusalem on Monday, police said.

“A terrorist armed with a knife arrived at Shalem police station and stabbed a female soldier… border police forces neutralized the terrorist by shooting,” police said in a statement.

Police, who did not give details about the assailant’s identity, said a female soldier was seriously wounded and another suffered light injuries.

The Israeli emergency services said they had provided medical treatment to the wounded, both aged 20.

The attack marks the latest violence to flare up in the area as Israel deepens its military offensive in Gaza.

On October 30, a Palestinian stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli police officer before being shot dead in east Jerusalem, the police said.

Israeli forces have stepped up their ground offensive in Gaza as part of the military response to the October 7 Hamas attacks that officials say killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, with more than 240 people taken hostage.

Israel has since relentlessly bombarded the Gaza Strip and sent in ground troops, with the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory saying 9,770 people have been killed, around two-thirds of them women and children.

AFP