Palestinian Attacker Kills American Tourist in Israel

The tourist's wife was 'severely injured'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 8, 2016 4:13 PM CST
Palestinian Attacker Kills American Tourist in Israel
A wounded man is evacuated from the scene of a stabbing attack in Jaffa, Israel, on Tuesday.   (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

A 29-year-old American tourist in Israel was killed in a series of attacks that coincided with vice president Joe Biden's visit to the country on Tuesday, the Times of Israel reports. The man's wife was "severely injured." A Palestinian man armed with a knife stabbed multiple people during a 20-minute attack across three locations in the city of Jaffa. Ten people were wounded, some critically, but the American tourist—identified by the AP as Taylor Force—was the only death. "He attacked a tourist couple," one witness tells the Guardian. "The woman was stabbed several times, tried to flee, and fell. The terrorist then continued to stab the man." Force was a graduate student at Vanderbilt University and was on a school trip to Tel Aviv. The injured victims include a pregnant Israeli woman, a Palestinian man, and an Arab Israeli.

Video from the incident shows the attacker—a 21- or 22-year-old man from a Palestinian refugee camp—running from location to location attacking people. "I saw a man run at me with a knife, I ran at him with the guitar and smashed it in his head," one man tells the AP. "He was so stunned and didn't know what to do with himself and then started running away." Police shot and killed the attacker. Biden, who was meeting with a former Israeli president nearby, condemned the attacks and offered condolences to the victims and their families. There have been near-daily attacks since September in Israel, but Tuesday was one of the worst days. At least 13 people were injured in stabbings and shootings in Jaffa, Jerusalem, and elsewhere. In total, four Palestinian attackers were killed by Israeli police. (More Israel stories.)

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