Bus station attack in Israel leaves an Israeli soldier dead
Tensions between Israel and Palestine continue as young soldier is killed in a gun and knife attack at a central bus station in Beersheva
Tensions and violence between Israel and Palestine have risen in recent weeks leaving many dead and injured.
An Israeli soldier has been killed and several other people were injured in a gun and knife attack at a bus station in Beersheva, Israel. The attack was carried out on Sunday evening.
According to reports, police said the attacker was thought to be Palestinian and that he was also killed.
Local news reports claim that the armed terrorist entered the bus station and shot at the soldier, killing him instantly, but that the shooting spree then continued. The man reportedly managed to escape the station, but was shot and killed when he ran into forces.
According to the BBC, the city's hospital said it was treating 10 shooting victims - two who arrived in a critical condition, two with serious wounds and the rest with moderate to light wounds. Those injured include at least four police officers.
This attack will have particularly shocked Israelis as it came not in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank but deep inside Israel itself, the BBC's Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly points out.
Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military removed Jewish worshippers it said had illegally entered a religious site in the occupied West Bank.
Thirty Israelis arrived at Joseph's Tomb in the city of Nablus and were assaulted by Palestinians before being handed over to Israeli forces by Palestinian police, reports say.
Recent developments have left eight Israelis dead in attacks by lone Palestinians and over 40 Palestinians, including several of the attackers, were also killed.
The upsurge, according to the BBC, began amid tensions at a flashpoint holy site in East Jerusalem, and Israeli security forces have subsequently imposed tighter restrictions in Jerusalem and the West Bank, following clashes with Palestinian protesters.
Israel has reportedly begun building a 5m high concrete barrier between the Palestinian district of Jabal Mukaber in East Jerusalem and the neighbouring Jewish Armon Hanatziv. Officials in Jerusalem insisted the wall was a temporary measure in an area "where there is a history of rock and [petrol bomb] Molotov cocktail throwing at Jewish homes and vehicles".
US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and, separately, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, this week in a bid to help restore calm.
