Knife wielding Palestinian woman attempts to stab 2 Israeli soldiers in Ariel, West Bank

Dressed in a light pink tunic and jeans a young female Palestinian assailant attempted to stab two soldiers and a civilian on Tuesday evening.

A video of the attack was posted on YouTube. It was shot from a vehicle that passed the site of the attack, a bus stop at the Gitai Avisar junction near the West Bank city of Ariel.

The young woman held her hand up and clenched a knife. She walked slowly in the direction of two soldiers who had their rifles drawn.

As she moved forward, one step at time, they walked backward. She moved closer to them and seemed almost about to lunge at them, when they shot her.

The woman fell to the ground, in the middle of the bus stop, and then rolled for a second on the pavement.

No one else was wounded. The attacker was transferred to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, where she was in serious but stable condition.

“This could have ended in a tragedy,” said Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan, who called on the government to restrict the movement of Palestinians on the roads in Judea and Samaria.

Ariel Mayor Eliyahu Shaviro thanked the security forces. “Their determination prevented injury to both soldiers and citizens alike.”