A Palestinian man armed with a kitchen knife stabbed a police officer in Ashkelon, Israel, and was shot dead.

An officer was examining a person of interest on Tuesday when “the attacker pulled out a knife and attacked the officer,” according to police. “Responded quickly, fired and neutralised the suspect,” the officer said in his report.

Injuries to the officer’s body were not life-threatening. According to authorities, the attacker was a guy in his 40s from Hebron, a flashpoint city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Violence between Israelis and Palestinians is on the rise. Since late March, 14 people have been killed in four shooting, stabbing, and car-ramming assaults in Israeli cities. In the same time frame, an AFP count shows that Israeli soldiers had killed 15 Palestinians, including attackers.

On the following Sunday. Palestinian lady attacked a police officer in the centre of Hebron, where roughly 1,000 Jewish settlers dwell under intense military protection among 200,000 Palestinians. She was slain by Israeli security forces.

On the same day, the Israeli military shot and killed an unarmed Palestinian woman in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, claiming that she ignored warning shots.

After a guy from Jenin shot and murdered three people in Tel Aviv last week, Israeli authorities have been searching for suspects in the northern West Bank.

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