2 Palestinians shot dead in Israel

New knife attacks on Israelis in the West Bank left a soldier lightly injured on Thursday, while two Palestinian assailants were shot dead by security forces, the police and the Army said.

In one incident a Palestinian stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli border guard near a shrine known to Jews as the Cave of the Patriarchs and to Muslims as the Ibrahimi Mosque, in the volatile city of Hebron.

“A Palestinian attacked and stabbed a soldier. Security forces responded and shot the attacker. The soldier sustained light injuries,” the Army said.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the attacker, aged 24, had died.

In the second incident a Palestinian allegedly tried to stab an Israeli soldier in Hebron, where several knife attacks have taken place in recent days.

“Moments ago forces thwarted the second attempted stabbing today in Hebron. The Palestinian assailant attempted to stab an IDF soldier at a security post,” read an Army statement.

Police spokeswoman Lu-ba Samri said the attacker had been shot dead.

Both incidents were followed by clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

A wave of such knife attacks and shootings has left nine Israelis dead since early October.

The death of the attackers takes the number of Palestinians killed in the recent unrest to 62. Many of those killed have been shot in anti-Israeli protes-ts. One Israeli Arab atta-cker has also been shot dead.

While a spate of protests and attacks in Jerusalem has eased, tensions have flared in Hebron, where near-daily clashes pit youths against Israeli soldiers.