Israel searches for attackers who stabbed three

Jerusalem: Israeli security forces took part in a massive manhunt Friday for two Palestinians suspected of carrying out a stabbing rampage near Tel Aviv that left three Israelis dead. The stabbing on Thursday, Israel’s Independence Day, was the latest in a series of deadly assaults deep inside the country in recent weeks.

It came as Israeli-Palestinian tensions were already heightened by violence at a major holy site in Jerusalem sacred to Jews and Muslims. Police said they were searching for two suspects, 19 and 20 years old, from the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, which has re-emerged as a militant bastion in the latest wave of violence — the worst Israel has seen in years.

Several attackers have come from in or around Jenin, and Israeli forces have launched arrest raids that have ignited gunbattles there. “We will get our hands on the terrorists and their supportive environment, and they will pay the price,” Israeli PM Bennett said after huddling with senior security officials late Thursday.

Authorities said the attackers fled in a vehicle. Medics described a horrific scene in Elad, an ultra-Orthodox town near Tel Aviv. In addition to the three killed, four others were wounded, one of them critically.

Israeli media identified those killed as Yonatan Havakuk, Boaz Gol and Oren Ben Yiftah, three fathers in their 30s and 40s who together are survived by 16 children. Ben Yiftah, 35 years old and the father of six, was from the central city of Lod. The city’s mayor, Yair Revivo, said “our heart breaks into tiny pieces” in a Facebook post, calling it a “great tragedy.” - AP.