Palestinian man kills 2 in car-ramming and stabbing attack in northern Israel and injures 2 others

JERUSALEM (AP) – A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel Friday, killing both, police said, as the Israeli defense minister quickly ordered military retaliation on what he said was the assailant’s West Bank hometown.

The attack began Friday afternoon in the northern city of Beit Shean, where the Palestinian man crashed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy. He then sped onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman, and injured another person near the entrance to the city of Afula. That’s where the attacker was shot, according to authorities.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identified the victims as Aviv Maor, a teenager, and Shimshon Mordechai, 68. Paramedics pronounced both dead at the scene.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he was shocked by the “horrific killing spree.” He said that Israel was “committed to reinforcing and strengthening this challenging border and, of course, to bolstering the security response in the area for the full safety of the residents.”

Israel’s military soon after began amassing troops near the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, where Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the assailant was from. Later Friday, the military said that it conducted a “precise operational search at the residence” of the attacker, together with intelligence forces, and was preparing to demolish the residence.

The operation was ongoing in the area, the military said on Friday evening.

Katz said that he’d ordered troops to “act forcefully and immediately” against what he called “terrorist infrastructure” in the town.

“Anyone who aids or sponsors terrorism will pay the full price,” he said.

It’s common practice for Israel to launch raids in the West Bank towns that attackers come from or demolish homes belonging to the assailants’ families. Israel says that it helps to locate militant infrastructure and prevents future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective punishment.

Raids have been conducted in the area of Qabatiya, which is in the northern West Bank near the major city of Jenin, over the last few weeks.

On Dec. 20, Israel’s military said that they killed a person in Qabatiya who “hurled a block toward the soldiers.” It later said that the killing was under review, after Palestinian media aired brief security footage in which the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything.

The Israel-Hamas war, which began with the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 that killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. It has also sparked a surge of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with a rise in attacks by Palestinian militants as well as Israeli settler violence against Palestinians.

In September, Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.

Meanwhile, Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia in East Africa.

It wasn’t known why Israel made the declaration now or whether it was expecting something in return. Earlier this year, U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press that Israel had approached Somaliland about taking in Palestinians from Gaza as part of Trump’s plan at the time to resettle that territory’s population. The U.S. has since abandoned that plan.

Netanyahu’s office said the prime minister, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, signed a joint and mutual declaration “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.”

That’s the project that in 2020 formalized commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and three Arab countries and that U.S. President Donald Trump sees as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East.

Somaliland, a territory of more than 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia more than three decades ago, but it hadn’t internationally been recognized as an independent state by any country.

The foreign ministry of Egypt – a major mediator in the Israel-Hamas war – said on social media that it rejects Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and stressed full support for Somalia’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

The ceasefire plan in the Israel-Hamas war specifies that Palestinians won’t be expelled from Gaza.