Israelis Injured In Stabbing In Kiryat Gat, Police Conduct Manhunt

UPDATE: 4:40 p.m. EST: Israeli police have captured a teenager suspected in the stabbing attack on four people earlier Saturday, an Israeli news agency reported. He was found by police with a blood-soaked knife after he was given up by two of his friends.

The suspect was said to be an illegal worker from Hebron, a Palestinian city in the West Bank.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Israeli police are looking for suspects in a stabbing incident that left four wounded in the southern Israeli city of Kiryat Gat Saturday, Agence France-Presse reported. A police representative called it a confirmed terrorist attack.

One victim was seriously wounded, two of them were moderately wounded and one was slightly wounded, the Israel News Feed reported via Twitter.

The attack happened in the center of the city close to a sports stadium. Kiryat Gat residents are being urged to stay indoors while a massive search is conducted, the Israel News Feed reported. School trips scheduled for Sunday were canceled as police combed the city.

AFP reported the attack was similar to a series of attacks by Palestinians that began last month. Since the beginning of October, 86 Palestinians and 15 Israelis have died as a result of the violence across Israel.

The violence had abated somewhat during the past few weeks, but it has flared anew over the past few days, Reuters reported.

One of the main bones of contention related to the violence is the view by many Palestinian Muslims that Israelis Jews are encroaching on one of Islam’s holiest locations, the Jerusalem site revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.

The rules of worship at the site say only Muslims are allowed to pray there, the Jerusalem Post reported. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said Israel will continue to enforce the policy on the site that says non-Muslims can visit but not pray.