Palestinian woman stabs Israeli female soldier in West Bank

A Palestinian woman on Monday stabbed a female Israeli soldier at a checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, Israeli officials said.

A military spokesperson told Xinhua that the stabbing took place at the Rachel crossing, near the entrance to Bethlehem.

"The assailant was arrested by forces on site and taken for further questioning," the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson with Israel's rescue services said in a statement that the stabbed soldier is "a young woman in her 20s" and that she was "in a serious condition with a wound to her upper body."

Earlier on Monday, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy from the refugee camp of Shuafat in East Jerusalem was arrested at a nearby checkpoint after an automatic gun was detected in his pants.

These incidents came three days after a Palestinian man was shot dead after he opened fire on Israeli soldiers at a West Bank checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.

Violent incidents between Israelis and Palestinians have been on the rise since the U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed last April.

There have been dozens of militant attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, mainly in Jerusalem, claiming Israeli victims, along with Palestinian casualties from the frequent clashes between the Palestinians and the Israeli security forces. Endit