2 Israelis hurt in separate stabbings in West Bank; 3 Palestinian attackers killed
Times of Israel · LC · trust 30/100
Two Israeli men were wounded on Thursday in separate Palestinian stabbing attacks in the West Bank, with all the assailants killed.
In the first incident, a civilian was seriously wounded near the West Bank settlement of Elon Moreh while trying to extinguish a fire, medics and the military said.
The stabbing occurred close to the Derech Avraham farming outpost. Israeli settlers had been working in the area to extinguish a blaze there.
At the site of the fire, a clash erupted between Israelis and Palestinians during which two Palestinian assailants stabbed an Israeli man, identified as Itamar Cohen, before they were shot dead.
“Another civilian who was at the scene identified the attack and eliminated the two terrorists,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics treated 51-year-old Cohen, who was stabbed in the chest and seriously wounded. He was then airlifted to a hospital by the Israeli Air Force’s elite Unit 669 for further treatment.
Troops encircled the nearby Palestinian town of Beit Furik following the incident and were carrying out searches in the area, the army said.
פיגוע דקירה במרחב אלון מורה: הוזנק מסוק לטובת פינוי הפצוע. עפ"י מידע מהזירה מדובר באזרח ישראלי שהגיע לאזור ע"מ לסייע בפעולות כיבוי האש. pic.twitter.com/STd1jBdX95
— זירת החדשות (@ZiratNews) July 23, 2026
The IDF initially claimed the fire had been set by Palestinians from Beit Furik, but later backtracked and said the cause of the blaze was unknown. Police officers and firefighters investigated the circumstances of the fire, and later announced that it was arson, without specifying if Palestinians were the ones to blame.
The Palestinian Authority’s official WAFA news agency alleged the fire was started by Israeli settlers from the area.
“This is a serious terror incident,” Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan said in a statement. “We are again and again witnesses to arson and terror attacks.”
Dagan blamed the Palestinian Authority and terror organizations for inciting attacks and demanded an “iron fist from the government” to deal with the violence.
שריפה פרצה בחוות דרך אברהם שסמוכה ליישוב אלון מורה בשומרון, צוותי כיבוי הוזעקו למקום @HGoldich pic.twitter.com/q6SaJbliwy
— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) July 23, 2026
Later in the day, an IDF paratrooper was lightly injured in a second stabbing attack in the northern West Bank, according to the military. The Palestinian attacker arrived near an army post located at the site of the formerly evacuated settlement of Ganim, where he stabbed a soldier of the Paratroopers Brigade.
Other soldiers returned fire, killing the Palestinian stabber, the army added.
The assailant in that attack was identified by Palestinian media as Yazan Fakhri Sawafta, 25, from Tubas, a police officer in the Palestinian Authority.
عاجل | وزارة الصحة تعلن استشهاد الشاب يزن فخري صوافطة (25 عاما) من مدينة طوباس برصاص الاحتلال قرب دوار حداد شرق جنين، عصر اليوم. pic.twitter.com/JJEaK6I2Ae
— القسطل الإخباري (@AlQastalps) July 23, 2026
Violence in the West Bank has soared since the Hamas attack on Israel triggered the Gaza war in October 2023. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers since the war started, according to the PA health ministry. The IDF says the vast majority of them were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.
During the same period, 66 civilians and Israeli security personnel have been killed in terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank. Another eight members of the security forces were killed in clashes during raids in Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
The same period has also seen a major surge in attacks by settler extremists on Palestinians and their property across the West Bank. The IDF recorded 867 incidents of nationalistic crime and settler violence in 2025. The total for 2024 was 682 incidents.
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