An Israeli from Ashkelon was fatally stabbed while shopping in Gaza Saturday. The victim, Haim Azran, 35, was assaulted from behind in an alley off the main street and knifed twice in the throat and once in the back.
He was aided by a friend, Mordechai Mordi, who summoned help from the local military head-quarters. An ambulance rushed Azran to Barzilai Hospital. He was taken by helicopter from there to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba where he died of his wounds.
A curfew was clamped on Gaza after the attack but was soon lifted. A grape stall dealer told police he saw the attacker whom he described as young and strong. But he could not identify him.
Israeli authorities attributed the stabbing and other recent violence in the Gaza Strip to the fatal shooting two weeks ago of an Arab youth during a stone-throwing melee in Rafah at the southern end of the Gaza Strip. That occurred on the fourth anniversary of the Shatila and Sabra refugee camps massacre in Lebanon and triggered anti-Israeli incidents in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. The authorities are puzzled because they have not yet abated.
Palestinian nationalists demonstrated at a local school in Rafah Thursday. An Israeli vehicle was stoned and its windshield smashed but the occupants were unhurt. Police arrested two persons on suspicion of organizing the demonstration.
Two gasoline bombs were thrown at an Israeli bus in Nablus Thursday. A window was smashed but no one was hurt. The bus was carrying Israeli school children from Shavei Shomron settlement to Elon Moreh. Security forces searched the area.
The tension in Nablus appeared related to the recent of dismissal of Dr. Munther Sallah, president of A-Najah University there, on suspicion he was involved in anti-Israel demonstrations.
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