Palestinian shot dead after stabbing in Hebron's Old City

A Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli forces and seriously wounded after he allegedly stabbed an Israeli border guard in Hebron on Monday.

Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said the alleged attacker, identified by local media as 21-year-old Ihab Fathi Miswadi, was shot after he stabbed the guard who was stationed near the Ibrahimi Mosque, also known as the Tomb of Patriarchs, a flashpoint for violence in the town's Old City. 

The guard, who is in his forties, was evacuated to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem for medical treatment in critical condition.

Palestinian medical sources said that the Israeli forces fired a barrage of bullets at Miswadi, refused to give him medical assistance and prevented a Red Crescent ambulance from reaching him.

The area around the mosque was subsequently closed off by Israeli police.

The incident is the latest in more than two months of an escalation in Palestinian-Israeli violence. Hebron has been the focus of much of the violence, with tensions high between Israeli settlers living in the heart of the city and Palestinian residents.

Since 1 October, almost daily attacks and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have killed 111 Palestinians, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean.

The stabbings, shootings and car rammings have mainly been carried out by Palestinian "lone wolf" attackers.

Many of them have been young people, including teenagers, reflecting their anger and lost hope over Israel's occupation, a fractured Palestinian leadership and the complete lack of progress in peace efforts, analysts have said.