Four stabbed in Tel Aviv terror attack as IDF raids Jenin in West Bank

Israel’s capital has been rocked by a second stabbing attack in four days as the fragile ceasefire with Hamas is put to the test with an IDF operation designed to ‘eradicate terrorism’.

Members of Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Four people have been wounded in a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in which the attacker was killed, Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom said on Wednesday.

Police said an initial investigation “revealed that a terrorist armed with a knife stabbed three civilians on Nahalat Binyamin Street and one civilian on Gruzenberg Street” as news of an IDF operation that killed 10 people in the West Bank city of Jenin was confirmed.

Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv said it had received three stabbing victims, including one in “a serious condition with a knife wound to the neck” who was taken into surgery.

The Nahalat Binyamin street and surrounding neighbourhood of Tel Aviv are popular for their restaurants and nightlife.

Without claiming responsibility, Hamas in a statement praised the attack as a “heroic stabbing operation” that showed the resistance to Israel was “increasing”.

This was the second stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in four days, after another assailant seriously wounded a person on Saturday before being shot by an armed civilian

Trump removes settler sanctions

News of the terror attack and IDF operation come hours after US President Donald Trump rescinded American sanctions on settler groups and individuals accused of involvement in violence against Palestinians in the territory.

One of Mr Trump’s first acts in office was to overturn executive order 14115, signed by Joe Biden in February 2024, which imposed sanctions on “persons undermining peace, security, and stability in the West Bank”.

It barred Americans from dealing with Israeli settlers and entities associated with them, and froze their US assets.

Israel’s far right welcomed the decision by President Trump to lift US sanctions on settlers who have attacked Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
Mr Trump signed the order even as settlers attacked al-Funduq and Jinsafut, two villages in the West Bank. Two masked Israelis were shot and injured by police.

Israeli forces in armoured vehicles stop Palestinian ambulances for a search as they block a road during a military raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank. Picture: AFP

Jenin raids to ‘eradicate terrorism’

The Israeli military said on Tuesday it had launched an operation in the occupied West Bank’s Jenin that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said aimed to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.

The Palestinian health ministry, based in Ramallah, said the operation had killed 10 people, just days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip.

In a joint statement, the military and the Shin Bet security agency said that, alongside the Israeli Border Police, they had launched an operation dubbed “Iron Wall” in Jenin.

In a statement released shortly after the launch of the operation, Mr Netanyahu said the raid aimed to “eradicate terrorism” in Jenin and was part of a broader strategy to counter Iran “wherever it sends its arms – in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen” and the West Bank.

The Israeli government has accused Iran, which backs armed groups across the Middle East including Hamas in Gaza, of attempting to send weapons and money to militants in the West Bank.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said its first responders treated seven people injured by live ammunition and that Israeli forces were hindering their access to the area.

Israeli forces in armoured vehicles drive past Palestinians during a military raid in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for “maximum restraint” from security forces and said that he “remains deeply concerned”, his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.

Israeli NGO B’Tselem accused the Israeli government of using the Gaza ceasefire as “an excuse and opportunity to ratchet up the oppression of West Bank Palestinians”.

“This is not what a ceasefire looks like,” it said.

Jenin governor Kamal Abu al-Rub told AFP the operation was “an invasion of the (refugee) camp”.

“It came quickly, Apache helicopters in the sky and Israeli military vehicles everywhere,” he added.

An AFP journalist said Palestinian security forces, who had been conducting an operation against armed factions in the area since early December, left some of their positions around the camp before the arrival of Israeli forces.

He reported the frequent sound of explosions and gunfire echoing from the camp.

A Palestinian pushes his bicycle loaded with supplies as Israeli forces in armoured vehicles conduct a raid in Jenin. Picture: AFP

The spokesman for the Palestinian security forces, Anwar Rajab, said in a statement that Israeli forces had “opened fire on civilians and security forces, resulting in injuries to several civilians and a number of security personnel, one of whom is in critical condition”.

Jenin and its refugee camp are known bastions of Palestinian militancy and Israeli forces frequently launch raids against armed factions there.

In recent months, raids have increased in frequency and intensity in Jenin.

Military raids often feature military bulldozers that dig up roads, in what Israel says is a way of removing buried explosives, often leaving whole neighbourhoods cut off from each other.

Jenin’s governor said that several bulldozers had entered the city on Tuesday.

Violence has soared throughout the West Bank since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7, 2023.

Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 848 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war, according to the health ministry.

At least 29 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military raids in the territory over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.