Israeli special forces capture Palestinian fugitives following stabbing rampage

ISRAELI police said forces have detained two Palestinians after three people were killed in a stabbing attack last week, sparking a massive manhunt.

Two attackers went on a rampage in the ultra-orthodox city of Elad last Thursday, Israel’s

Independence Day, killing three and wounding at least four others before fleeing.

The stabbings were the latest in a series of deadly assaults deep inside the country in recent weeks.

The incident came amid already heightened tensions in the country after violence at a major holy site in Jerusalem sacred to Jews and

Muslims. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told his Cabinet that forces captured “terrorists awash with incitement who killed with axes and unimaginable cruelty”.

He said Israel was entering a “new stage in the war on terror”, and said the country was establishing a civilian national guard that would be deployed in emergency situations like the kind of attacks Israel has witnessed in recent weeks.

“The Israeli government’s main goal is to restore personal security to Israeli citizens,” he said.

A joint statement by police, the military and the Shin Bet internal security agency said the men, identified as Palestinians aged 19 and 20, were detained near a quarry not far from Elad following a search that began on Thursday by special forces and commando units using helicopters and other means.

Police said the alleged attackers were from the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, which has emerged as a militant bastion in the latest wave of violence.