A soldier of the Israel Defense Forces was stabbed to death by a Palestinian teen Wednesday in Afula, Israel.
Hussein Jawadra, 16, killed soldier Eden Attias as revenge for the imprisonment of two family members, the Long War Journal reported. One of Jawadra's relatives was convicted of murdering two Israelis and is currently serving three life sentences. A second relative of Jawadra's is serving 12 years for attempted murder.
There has been a rise of violence by Palestinians against Israelis in recent months, according to the Journal:
On Sept. 21, Israeli authorities announced that an IDF soldier had been abducted and murdered by Palestinians in the West Bank. The soldier, Tomer Hazan, of Bat Yam, was lured by a coworker, Nidal Amar, to the Bayt Amin area in the West Bank, where he was killed. Amar had hoped to use Hazan's body to bargain for the release of one of his brothers, Nur al Adin Amar, who has been imprisoned since 2003 for involvement in terror-related activities as part of Fatah's Tanzim group. According to the Jerusalem Post, Amar will be indicted by the IDF on Nov. 14.
On Sept. 22, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed an Israeli soldier, Sergeant Gabriel Koby, 20, in the city of Hebron. "The individual or individuals responsible for the shooting ... have not yet been apprehended," an IDF spokesperson told The Long War Journal on Oct. 11.
Almost two weeks after Koby's killing, on Oct. 5, a nine-year-old girl in the West Bank community of Psagot was stabbed (early reports said the victim was shot at close range). Three days after the incident, Israeli authorities arrested two Palestinian relatives from Al Bireh in connection with the attack. On Oct. 11, Sariya Ofer, an IDF reserve colonel, was murdered in his home in the Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika by a group of Palestinians. On Oct. 13, it was cleared for publication that three Palestinians had been arrested in connection with Ofer's murder.