Palestinian woman stabs soldier
Female soldier lightly hurt at West Bank roadblock; assailant, a 37-year-old mother of six, killed by army officer
Another roadblock attack: A 37-year-old Palestinian woman and mother of six stabbed and lightly hurt a female soldier at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus Tuesday morning.
The assailant, Hifa Hindiya from the Balata refugee camp, arrived at the checkpoint wearing a jacket and aroused the troops' suspicions.
She then proceeded to pull out a knife, charged at a female soldier at the roadblock, and stabbed her in the face.
An officer at the scene fired at the Palestinian attacker, who sustained serious wounds. The woman was treated by Red Crescent paramedics at the scene but died a short while later. Her body was transferred to Nablus. The soldier, meanwhile, was taken to hospital for treatment.
Palestinian sources in Nablus said Hindiya acted out of her own initiative and not on behalf of any terrorist group.
The sources said her brother-in-law was killed by the IDF at the start of the intifada. A missile fired by the army killed him and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades commander in the Nablus region at the time while they were hiding in the Balata refugee camp.
The Hawara roadblock has been the scene of numerous attempts to target security forces and smuggle weapons into Israel, but alert soldiers have been able to curb the attempts.
Earlier, security officials said terror groups continue to be active in the Nablus region, where the relative lull in violence has not been felt.
Two days ago, another stabbing attempt took place at another roadblock in the Nablus area. A Palestinian boy charged at the checkpoint with a knife, yelling “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic.) The roadblock commander shot the boy in the leg.
The boy was treated by Red Crescent paramedics, before being taken in for interrogation.
Ali Waked and Raanan Ben Zur contributed to the story
