Palestinian killed in Hebron after alleged stabbing

A young Palestinian man was shot dead in the Israeli-occupied West Bank after he allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier on Thursday.

Israeli military said that an Isreli soldier sustained slight injuries when the 23-year-old Palestinian attempted to attack him with a knife in his hand. “Israeli forces opened fire on the Palestinian after he tried to stab the soldier,” the military said in a written statement.

Thursday's attack took place in the city of Hebron, where some 500 Jewish settlers live in a heavily-guarded enclave in the city centre, surrounded by nearly 200,000 Palestinians.

Witnessses said the injured Palestinian did not receive medical attention for a long time. He was already dead at the scene when taken into an ambulance by Israeli paramedics, it was reported.

Recent reports said Israeli forces have detained 24 Palestinians on various charges since late Wednesday.

Tensions have boiled since August in the wake of Jewish settlers' arson attack on a Palestinian family's home in Nablus. The tension has reached its climax after an Israeli incursion into the al-Aqsa complex – the third holiest site in Islam.

Jewish settlers launched an arson attack on a Palestinian family in Nablus, on the West Bank, in August. A man, a woman and their 18-month-old son were killed in the nighttime attack on in the village of Duma. Only a 4-year-old boy survived with serious injuries.

After this incident, protests and clashes have escalated throughout much of the the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that 65 people, including 14 children, were killed in the clashes.