Israeli police hold Palestinian man over knife killing

Israeli police said they were holding a Palestinian suspected of stabbing to death an Israeli man Wednesday near Tel Aviv in what they were treating as a "terrorist attack".

"A man died in hospital after being stabbed by a Palestinian suspect," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

He said the suspect, a 46-year-old man from the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, fled the scene but was arrested nearby and found to be carrying a large kitchen knife.

He had a permit to work in Israel, Rosenfeld added.

Such permits are issued subject to Israeli security checks, meaning that the man would have no record of militant activity.

Rosenfeld added that police were regarding the incident, in the town of Petach Tikva, "as a terrorist attack".

The victim was identified as father of four Shay Ohayon, 39, an Orthodox Jew who had lived near where he was killed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted his condolences to the family, pledging that the assailant would be "severely punished" and his house "destroyed".

Israel routinely demolishes the homes of those accused of carrying out attacks.

It argues that such measures act as a deterrent, but critics say it amounts to collective punishment.

Since October 2015 Israel and the West Bank saw a wave of "lone-wolf" attacks on Israelis by predominantly young, knife-wielding Palestinians.

Car-ramming attacks were also used, and more rarely, firearms. The attacks have become less frequent but have not stopped altogether.

On August 17, a Palestinian stabbed a policeman in the chest in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

The officer suffered only minor injuries and shot dead his attacker. 

Agencies contributed to this report.

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