Israeli wounded in occupied West Bank stabbing

Israeli forces have launched search operations in the Jordan Valley after an Israeli man was wounded in a stabbing attack in a village in the eastern occupied West Bank.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday, citing a security source, that the man was stabbed at a commercial complex on the main road near the village of al-Auja.

The victim, a man aged in his 20s, was moderately wounded, Israeli police said.

The suspect escaped from the scene after carrying out the attack, according to the Israeli army, which launched a large-scale search operation in the area, supported by a substantial police presence.

The army said it had set up roadblocks in the village and the surrounding areas. The military is “in constant contact with the residents and security forces in the area”, it said in a post on Telegram.

The Palestinian group Hamas said the attack was a response to what it called Israeli violations and military operations in the occupied West Bank and Palestinian territories, as well as an escalation of violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem.

“This operation demonstrates that our people are determined to resist the occupation in every part of Palestine, despite all the campaigns of oppression, persecution, and escalating terrorism against our people,” it said in a statement.

The incident comes amid a rise in state-backed Israeli settler violence against Palestinians across the occupied West Bank since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza began in October 2023.