JERUSALEM — A rash of Palestinian stabbing attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers in recent weeks has killed eight Israelis and at least 29 Palestinians.
The unrest began a month ago, when Palestinians repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, hurling stones and firebombs at police. Tensions were fueled by Palestinian allegations that Israel plans to change the delicate arrangement at the hilltop compound, sacred to both Muslims and Jews.
Israel has adamantly denied the allegations and accused Palestinian leaders of inciting the violence and spreading lies over the shrines. Violence was initially confined to east Jerusalem and the West Bank — territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 war and claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — but later spread to Israeli cities in the form of deadly stabbing attacks.
Tensions have been high since U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed and a 50-day war with Gaza’s Islamic militant Hamas rulers last year. But Palestinians say their current rage began simmering on the last day of July when a West Bank home was firebombed, killing an 18-month-old boy and his parents.
The current violence shows no signs of ending. Here is a look at some key recent events:
July 31: Assailants threw firebombs into a bedroom of a home in the West Bank village of Duma killing 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh. His parents later died of their wounds. Israeli leaders condemned the attack across the political spectrum and a crackdown on Jewish extremists was ordered. Palestinians complain that Palestinian attackers are quickly arrested but no suspects in the arson have been officially charged, although some known extremists have been detained.
August 3: Palestinians threw a firebomb at a passing car in Jerusalem injuring two people.
August 6: A Palestinian motorist rammed his car into Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, wounding three before he was shot by Israeli troops.
August 15: Two Palestinians were shot after stabbings in the West Bank, one asked for a glass of water and then stabbed a soldier when he turned around to get it.
August 17: A Palestinian was shot at a West Bank checkpoint after telling police there that he felt unwell and then pulling out a knife and stabbing an officer.
September 13: Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City on the eve of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah and threw rocks and firebombs from within the holy site at police outside.
September 14: An Israeli, 64-year-old Alexander Levlovitz, died and two passengers were hurt after Palestinians pelted their car with rocks as they drove home from a meal marking the Jewish new year in Jerusalem. Palestinian rock throwing and firebomb attacks spread from beyond the Old City walls to other areas of Jerusalem.
September 18: Israel called up a few hundred reservists after a week where Palestinians repeatedly barricaded themselves inside the mosque and threw rocks and firebombs at police. It also reinstated a ban on Muslim men under 40 from the site. Palestinians viewed the ban as a provocation.
September 19: Violence spread from Jerusalem and its flashpoint holy site to the West Bank. There were no fatalities, but a total of eight Palestinians were injured by live fire in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank. Palestinians reported about 20 more treated for tear gas inhalation and other minor injuries. Three Israeli officers were injured by Palestinian fire bombs in Jerusalem.
September 22: A Palestinian woman was killed at a checkpoint in the West Bank city of Hebron. The Israeli military said she had a knife and tried to stab a soldier. Palestinian witnesses said she wasn’t a threat and was needlessly killed.
September 30: President Mahmoud Abbas announced in a hard-line speech at the U.N. General Assembly that the Palestinians cannot continue to be bound by 20-year-old security and economic agreements with Israel, but he stopped short of declaring the Oslo Accords over. It was the latest of several Abbas statements that Israeli leaders have condemned as incitement. Abbas has said that Israelis desecrate the Jerusalem holy site with their “dirty feet” and charged that Israel was committed to the “ethnic cleansing” of his people.
October 1: An Israeli settler couple — Eitam and Naama Henkin — were shot dead in front of their four children, including an 4-month-old infant, as they drove in the West Bank. Israel later arrested five Palestinians it said were part of a Hamas cell that carried out the attack.
October 2: Israel deployed hundreds of troops in the West Bank to find those that killed the Henkins.
October 3: A Palestinian stabbed two Israeli men to death and injured a mother and toddler before he was killed by police in Jerusalem’s Old City.
October 4: A Palestinian stabbed and wounded an Israeli teenager before he was shot by police.
October 5: Two Palestinian teenagers were killed in violent protests against Israeli soldiers in the West Bank. The Palestinian Red Crescent said eight Palestinians were wounded by live fire and 45 by rubber bullets in the protests.
October 7: Police said a 19-year-old Palestinian stabbed a soldier while taking his weapon in the southern town of Kiryat Gat. The suspect then fled into a residential building, where he followed a local woman into her apartment before police forces arrived and shot and killed him.
A Palestinian woman stabbed an Israeli man who then shot and wounded her. Another Palestinian was wounded when he was shot by police after he attempted to run over an officer at a West Bank checkpoint.
A Palestinian attacker stabbed an Israeli man outside a mall in central Israel.
October 8: A soldier shot and killed an Arab attacker after he stabbed four people with a screwdriver in Tel Aviv. Two Israelis were injured in separate Palestinian stabbing attacks elsewhere.
October 9: The unrest spread to the Gaza border. Seven Palestinians were killed in violent protests there with Israeli soldiers.
A Palestinian was shot and killed after attacking police with a knife in the West Bank.
In apparent revenge attack, an Israeli stabbed Palestinians and two Arab Bedouins, injuring them in the southern Israel. October 10: Palestinians carried out two stabbing attacks in Jerusalem before being shot dead by police.
Two Palestinian youths, ages 13 and 11, were killed near the Gaza border fence in renewed clashes there.
A Palestinian stabbed and injured two Israelis in Jerusalem.
October 11: Two Palestinians, a 31-year-old and a 2-year-old, were killed in an airstrike that followed rocket fire from Gaza into Israel.
A Palestinian, 13, was killed in clashes with Israeli forces in the West Bank.
An Israeli Arab stabbed four Israelis in northern Israel.
A Palestinian detonated a gas canister in her car injuring an officer and herself near Jerusalem.
October 12: Two Palestinian teens stabbed two Israelis, including a teen riding a bicycle, injuring them seriously. One of the Palestinian attackers was killed after rushing at officers with a knife.
A Palestinian attacked a soldier on a bus in Jerusalem before being shot and killed.
October 13: Two Palestinian men boarded a bus in Jerusalem and began shooting and stabbing passengers, while another assailant rammed a car into a bus station before stabbing bystanders, in near-simultaneous attacks Tuesday. Three Israelis and two attackers were killed. Several other Israelis were injured in the bus attack.
There were also two Palestinian stabbing attacks in the central Israeli city of Raanana that injured five, including one seriously. Emergency services said several of the wounded were in serious condition.
A Palestinian was killed in clashes in the West Bank. The Israeli military said he was shot as he threw a firebomb at a vehicle.
