ILLUSTRATIVE: Israeli security and rescue personnel Photo: Hadas Parush/Flash90.

i24 News – An Israeli soldier was moderately wounded on Friday in a stabbing attack near the Kiryat Arba settlement on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Hebron, according to Israel’s military and medics.

After an initial report, Israel’s army said a man armed with a knife approached a military post near the southern West Bank locale where several Israeli troops were staying and attacked one of them.

The Palestinian assailant was shot dead by another troop nearby, and the stabbed soldier, age 19, was taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem where he was reported to be fully conscious.

Following the stabbing, reports surfaced of clashes breaking out between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the area.

A rescue worker who was the first responder on the scene reported that a young man in his twenties was stabbed and wounded.

“Together with [Israeli army] medical personnel, I treated the wounded [his] upper body. I gave him first aid before he was taken to hospital. The assailant was neutralized by [Israeli] security forces,” the rescue worker said.

Tensions have escalated in the West Bank lately as Israeli security forces stepped up arrest raids and operations following a deadly wave of terror attacks that killed 19 people earlier this year.

Early on Friday, Israeli troops arrested three Palestinians wanted in raids in the West Bank, with violent incidents in some areas, the Israeli military said.