Israeli army: 2 Palestinians killed after stabbing soldier

Taking a dead Palestinian to her burial






A Palestinian uses a slingshot to throw stones towards Israeli
 troops during clashes following the funeral of Palestinian
Riham Dawabsheh at Duma village




Palestinian women look on as an Orthodox Jew lays on
 the floor after he was attacked by other Palestinians

Israeli troops shot and killed two Palestinians after they stabbed a soldier on Sunday near at a West Bank checkpoint, the military said.

The military said the attackers stabbed the soldier at a gas station near the Hawara crossing, south of the city of Nablus. The soldier was moderately wounded. Troops who were at the scene opened fire and killed both assailants. An Israeli soldier was accidentally lightly wounded in the shooting.

In another attack, earlier in the day, police said a soldier was stabbed and lightly wounded in Jerusalem by a 30-year-old attacker. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the stabbing took place near the city's central bus station.
A nearby security guard apprehended the attacker who was then taken into police custody. On Saturday, Israeli troops shot and killed another two would-be attackers.
The incidents are the latest in three months of unrelenting violence. Since mid-September, 20 Israelis have been killed in attacks. At least 129 Palestinians have died in the same period, of whom 89 Israel says were attacking or attempting to attack Israelis.

Also Sunday, Israel returned the bodies of seven suspected Palestinian assailants killed in recent weeks to their families, the military said. In October, Israel began withholding the bodies of suspected attackers as a tactic to crack down on the violence.

The military identified one of the returned dead as Issam Thawabta, who was killed in November after he fatally stabbed Hadar Buchris, a 21-year-old Israeli woman, at the Gush Etzion junction south of Jerusalem.

Israel says the unrelenting violence is fanned by a Palestinian campaign of lies and incitement. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustrations stemming from nearly five decades of Israeli occupation.