A prominent Israeli settler ran over and opened fire on a Palestinian woman, after the settler suspected the woman was about to carry out a stabbing attack at Huwarra checkpoint, in the northern occupied West Bank district of Nablus, Israeli media reported. Israeli news site Ynet identified the man who ran the woman over as the former head of the "Samaria regional council," Gershon Mesika, a leader within the settler community. After running the Palestinian woman over with his car, landing in a ditch, Mesika reportedly got out of his car and began opening fire, alongside Israeli forces who also opened fire, Israeli media reported. An Israeli army spokesperson did not immediately respond for comment, and the extent of the Palestinian's injuries is not yet known. Hebrew media initially reported that the woman had been shot dead. No Israelis were reported as injured in the alleged attack. The attack was the second incident within 24 hours. On Saturday evening, a Palestinian, identified as Muhammad Shaker al-Tarda,18, stabbed and wounded four Israelis, including a 13-year-old girl, in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat, before being arrested hours later, Israeli police said. Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said at the time that an Israeli man was seriously wounded and two women and a 13-year-old girl moderately wounded in what he described as a "confirmed terrorist attack," which took place on the city's King David Street. Shortly afterwards, Israeli police said that a mob of Israeli civilians violently beat and bound the hands of a Palestinian Bedouin man they incorrectly believed was the attacker. The four Israelis and the Bedouin were evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon. On Thursday, four Israelis and one Palestinian were killed in two separate attacks in Tel Aviv and the illegal settlement bloc of Gush Etzion in the southern West Bank. The Palestinian attackers were afterwards arrested. The attacks have accompanied a wave of popular unrest that has swept the the occupied Palestinian territory since the beginning of October. While Israelis have sought to blame the unrest on religious incitement, Palestinians have pointed to the nearly 50-year military occupation of the Palestinian territory, no prospect of a political solution, and a deep sense of frustration and despair. At least 87 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces during the period -- many shot dead under circumstances in which rights groups said that Israeli forces used unnecessary force -- while at least 16 Israelis have been killed in the same period.
