An Israeli man was stabbed in the neck, sustaining light-to-moderate injuries, at an industrial zone north of Jerusalem on Thursday morning. According to Haaretz, the Israeli man, a truck driver, worked with the attacker, a Palestinian laborer, who fled the scene, with the Israeli's gun.
On Wednesday one Israeli settler was shot dead in the West Bank while another Israeli was wounded.
Meanwhile, Palestinian farmers in Gaza Strip on Wednesday canceled plans to destroy 200 tons of produce that they have been unable to export since an Israeli-controlled crossing was closed Feb. 21. The Palestinians expected Israel to reopen the passage on Thursday, Israel's Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has decided the "Karni" crossing will remain closed on Thursday. This came despite earlier promises to open it indefinitely to humanitarian aid for Palestinian residents.
Palestinians and U.N. officials said on Wednesday stocks of wheat, sugar and cooking oil are dwindling in Gaza Strip and could begin to run out within days due to the ongoing Israeli blockade.
David Shearer, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said humanitarian conditions had deteriorated rapidly since Hamas' Jan. 25 Palestinian election victory, in part because of Israel's closure of the main crossing into the Strip. "This is getting to precarious levels," Shearer said in an interview with Reuters.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of trying to effect a silent holocaust. "They are trying to kill us by starving us to death. I can tell you that the Jews are the Nazis of our time," said Omar Barham, a Palestinian Social Affair minister in Gaza.
