Palestinian assailant killed after stabbing Israeli soldier

JERUSALEM (AP) - A Palestinian assailant was shot and killed by Israeli forces after stabbing and seriously wounding an Israeli soldier in the West Bank on Wednesday, the latest in an unrelenting, two month-long wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The Israeli military said the soldier was stabbed at a junction near the West Bank city of Hebron. Troops on the scene shot the attacker, who later died in a Jerusalem hospital.

The attack comes a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry visited the region to try to calm tensions. The violence erupted 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 so far.

Attacks by Palestinians have killed 19 Israelis and 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, among them 58 said by Israel to be assailants.

Israel says the violence stems from Palestinian incitement and incendiary videos on social media. Most of the attackers have been young Palestinians in their teens and early 20s.

The Palestinians say the violence is rooted in frustration over nearly a half century of Israeli occupation and lack of hope for obtaining independence.

There were no signs that Kerry made any headway in easing tensions during his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The violence continued even as Kerry's plane touched down, with a Palestinian motorist ramming his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers and wounding three before he was shot and wounded, the Israeli military said. The ongoing escalation has sunk the chances of a renewed peace push during the Obama administration's final year.