A Palestinian stabbed and critically wounded an Israeli soldier on Wednesday and was shot dead by troops, the army and a hospital official said, a day after a visit by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to explore how to end eight weeks of violence.
The attack occurred in the Israeli-occupied West Bank at a road junction near a cluster of Palestinian villages and Jewish settlements. The army said the soldier was critically hurt and a an official at Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem said the Palestinian assailant died on the operating table.
Eighty-seven Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 1, some while carrying out assaults and others in clashes with Israeli forces. Many of them were teenagers. Nineteen Israelis and an American have been killed in the Palestinian attacks.
The violence, fuelled in part by Muslim agitation over increased Jewish visits to East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound - Islam's third holiest site and also revered by Jews as the location of two biblical-era temples, prompted Kerry to come and sound out both sides on Tuesday.
With his bid to shepherd talks on a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory frozen since mid-2014, Kerry said his latest mission had the more limited aim of lowering tension.
But there was no indication that any headway was made in his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
A Palestinian official, who asked not to be identified, said Kerry had asked Abbas to try to achieve at least a week of calm to persuade Netanyahu to pursue confidence-building measures. These would include giving the Palestinian Authority self-rule powers in parts of the West Bank where Israel maintains sole security and administrative control.
"Kerry said it was very difficult to address these issues with Netanyahu under the continued actions of what he called violence, stabbing and ramming by cars. He said a calm should be brought in place so other issues can then be discussed," the Palestinian official said.
Another Palestinian official, chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, said on Voice of Palestine Radio that Abbas told Kerry that "Palestinians were the victims" and were only defending themselves against Israeli actions.
Kerry, arriving back in the United States on Wednesday, said Israeli and Palestinian leaders had reached a pivotal point and it was now up to them to make important decisions that will lead to lasting peace.
"We are very concerned about the violence and the potential for the situation to spin out of control," he told reporters in Boston.