Palestinian shot after reported attempted stabbing at West Bank junction

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A 27-year-old Palestinian was shot on Monday by Israeli forces after an attempted stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, south of Bethlehem, the Israeli military said. His condition remains unclear.

The man was identified as Mohammed Bello, resident of Beit Fajjar, in the Bethlehem area. He was taken to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.

According to the Israeli military, he attempted to stab a soldier with a screwdriver. The soldier pushed him away, and a second soldier shot him. No Israeli casualties were reported.

Video footage from the scene shared on Palestinian media shows Bello lying on the ground as soldiers appear to be securing the area, preventing a Palestinian medic from treating him. There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials.

On Friday, a 50-year-old Palestinian, resident of East Jerusalem, was shot dead after a reported attempted stabbing attack in the Old City. An Israeli Border Police officer was lightly wounded in the leg, likely from bullet fragments that had ricocheted.

Eyewitnesses rejected the claim that the suspected attacker, identified as 50-year-old Hazem al-Julani, was involved in the attempted stabbing. Police acknowledged that he did not fit the usual profile of an attacker, but said that security cameras captured him attempted to hurt police officers.

Following the incident, police closed off all the entrances to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque compound, but reopened them shortly after. The suspect began trying to stab officers as soon as he arrived at the site, a police statement said.

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