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A Palestinian attacker rammed his car into a man and then stabbed a young woman in northern Israel Friday, killing both, police said, as the Israeli defence minister quickly ordered military retaliation on what he said was the suspect’s West Bank hometown.
The attack began Friday afternoon in the northern city of Beit Shean, where the Palestinian man crashed his vehicle into people, killing one man and injuring a teenage boy. He then sped onto a highway, where he fatally stabbed the woman, said police. The man was 68 and the woman was 18, said paramedics, who pronounced both dead at the scene.
The suspect was headed for the nearby city of Afula when a security officer shot him, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said.
Herzog said he was shocked by the “horrific killing spree.” He said that Israel was “committed to reinforcing and strengthening this challenging border and, of course, to bolstering the security response in the area for the full safety of the residents.”
Israel’s military soon after began amassing troops near the Palestinian town of Qabatiya, where Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that the suspect was from.
Katz said that he’d ordered troops to “act forcefully and immediately” against what he called “terrorist infrastructure” in the town.
“Anyone who aids or sponsors terrorism will pay the full price,” he said.
It’s common practice for Israel to launch raids in the West Bank towns that attackers come from or demolish homes belonging to the attackers’ families. Israel says that it helps to locate militant infrastructure and prevents future attacks. Rights watchdogs describe such actions as collective punishment.
On Thursday, an Israeli reservist soldier rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man as he prayed on a roadside in the occupied West Bank, after earlier firing shots in the area, the Israeli military said.
“Footage was received of an armed individual running over a Palestinian individual,” it said in a statement, adding the individual was a reservist and his military service had been terminated.
The Israeli police did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Palestinian man went to hospital for checks after the attack, but was unhurt and is now at home.
More than 1,000 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 17, 2025, mostly in operations by security forces and some by settler violence, according to the UN. In the same period, 57 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks.
In September, Palestinian attackers opened fire at a bus stop during the morning rush hour in Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding another 12, according to Israeli officials.
