A Palestinian man hit a man with his car in northern Israel and then attacked a young woman with a knife, killing both, police said Friday.
In retaliation, Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered immediate military action, citing what he said was the attacker’s hometown in the occupied West Bank.
what do we know?
The attack began on Friday afternoon in the northern city of Beit She’an in the Jordan Valley.
Police said a Palestinian man hit people with his vehicle, killing one person and injuring a teenager.
He then quickly drove to the highway, where he stabbed a woman to death and injured another man near the entrance to Afula town.
The alleged attacker, a 34-year-old Palestinian, was shot and is in stable condition in hospital, officials said.
The Israeli military said the suspect “infiltrated Israeli territory several days ago.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he was shocked by the “horrible killing spree”.
Katz orders military counteroffensive in West Bank
Israeli police later said that the attacker was from Qabatiya and had taken his employer’s vehicle to carry out the attack.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the army to launch an operation in the northern West Bank city.
Katz said he had told troops to take “forceful and immediate action” against what he called “terrorist infrastructure” in Qabatiya.
“Whoever aids or sponsors terrorism will have to pay the full price,” he said.
It is common for Israel to conduct raids in the hometowns of Palestinian attackers, which Israel defends as helping detect terrorist infrastructure and prevent future attacks. Human rights monitors say these actions constitute collective punishment.
Later on Friday, the army said its troops had launched an operation in Qabatia.
Tension has increased in the West Bank due to increasing violence
Friday’s attack came just days after Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager in the Qabatiya area.
The army has started investigation after the footage surfaced, in which the teenager is not shown making any threat or throwing anything at the soldiers who shot him.
Friday’s incident came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes hit a Palestinian man with his vehicle in the West Bank.
Social media footage purported to show the incident shows the victim praying on the side of the road when the collision occurs.
According to the United Nations, more than a thousand Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank between October 7, 2023, and October 17, 2025, most of them in action by security forces and some in settler violence. 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks during the same period.
Edited by: Dmytro Lyubenko