Knife-wielding Palestinian critically wounded in third attack in one day

A 21-year-old Palestinian woman who tried to stab an Israeli border guard in the West Bank was shot and critically wounded on Sunday, the Israeli police said.

The incident happened at a checkpoint near the Tomb of Patriarchs in Hebron, a site of several attacks in the past months.

When the guards ordered the assailant's hand out of the purse, she wielded a knife towards a guard who approached her. The suspect was then shot and critically wounded, police said.

Ha'aretz daily later identified the attacker to be 21-year-old Yasmin a-Tamimi from Hebron.

Clashes ensued in the area between Palestinian protestors and Israeli security forces who used riots-dispersal means to take control of the situation.

This is the third incident on Sunday in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Two 15-year-old Palestinians were shot and killed after opening fire at Israeli soldiers near the town of Jenin in the northern West Bank on Sunday morning, as soldiers were working to restrain rock-throwing Palestinian youth, according to the Israeli military.

Later on Sunday afternoon, Israeli policemen killed a Palestinian teenager at a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Bethlehem after he allegedly ran towards them while wielding a knife. No Israelis were injured in the attacks.

Twenty-six Israelis and more than 160 Palestinians have died in an eruption of violence since October, 2015.

Israel's army chief, Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, said last week that most of the attackers operate alone and are not backed by any militant organization, noting they are mostly youngsters who copycat each other in carrying out the attacks. Endit