JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian fatally stabbed an Israeli soldier at a West Bank gas station Monday before he was killed by security forces as two Palestinian teenage girls in Jerusalem attacked a 70-year-old Palestinian, apparently mistaking him for an Israeli, in a new rash of attacks on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's visit to the region to try and calm two months of deadly violence.
The gas station stabbing took place on the 443 highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which cuts in parts through the West Bank. One of the girls, who both used scissors in a stabbing spree outside a central Jerusalem market, was shot dead while the other was wounded by armed Israelis, according to police.
In other incidents, the Israeli military said another knife-wielding Palestinian was shot dead in the West Bank before he could harm anyone.
Elsewhere, a Palestinian rammed his vehicle into a pedestrian near a West Bank settlement, lightly wounding him. The civilian was evacuated to hospital while the attacker fled the scene. There have been several instances of Palestinians using their cars as weapons by crashing them into Israelis in recent months.
Monday's attacks are the latest in a wave of violence that began in mid-September over tensions surrounding a sensitive Jerusalem holy site and quickly spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The past week has been the deadliest of the outburst thus far.
On Sunday, a 21-year-old Israeli woman was stabbed to death by a Palestinian in the West Bank, and last Thursday, five people were killed in stabbing and shooting attacks in the West Bank and Tel Aviv.
Kerry is scheduled to arrive Tuesday to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders and try to calm tensions that show no signs of dissipating. It will mark his first visit to the area in more than a year.
In a visit to the West Bank, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to keep up Israel's tough hand against Palestinian attackers.
"We are going everywhere. We are entering into villages, communities and homes and are carrying out widespread arrests," said Netanyahu, who appeared to be wearing a bulky flak jacket under his coat. "The most important tool that we have is the perseverance, courage and determination to fight terrorism."