Four injured in stabbing attack in Israel's Negev region

An Israeli citizen launched a stabbing attack in the small town of Dimona on Friday morning, injuring four people before being arrested by Israeli police, according to local media.

The attack, which a police spokesperson said was "in revenge" for violence earlier in the week targeting Jewish citizens of Israel, was followed later in the day by further stabbings across the country.

At the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba close to Hebron, Israeli police shot dead a young Palestinian man who stabbed an officer on Friday afternoon.

According to Israeli media, the man had attempted to seize the police officer's weapon before being disarmed and shot.

In Jerusalem, a Palestinian man was arrested after he allegedly attempted to stab passersby.

In the first attack all four victims were from the local Bedouin population, according to Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld.

At least one of the victims was stabbed in the back, according to Israeli news site Haaretz.

Three men received light injuries, and the fourth sustained deeper wounds - all four have been taken to the same hospital for treatment.

After first stabbing one man at around 9am local time (07:00 GMT) the perpetrator immediately escaped before attacking three more people 45 minutes later.

Unverified footage claiming to be from the scene shows a crowd of bystanders attempting to help one of the victims, who lies on the pavement of a quiet suburban street bleeding from his wounds. A trail of blood is seen leading up to the spot where he is lying.

A man was arrested after the second attack in which he allegedly stabbed three people, Rosenfeld told Middle East Eye on Friday morning.

Rosenfeld says he believes the man, who has a criminal record, carried out the attacks "in revenge" for a number of attacks that have targeted Jewish citizens of Israel this week.

Friday's attack comes after a week of renewed violence that saw eight Israelis wounded on Thursday in stabbing attacks around the country.

At least one of the suspected attackers was shot dead by police.

Dimona, a town of just over 30,000 people, lies in the Negev desert and is ethnically mixed, with a large black and Indian Jewish population.

The town is extremely isolated, and is primarily known for its location close to Israel's nuclear research centre.

However, David Sheen, an independent journalist who lives in Dimona, wrote on Twitter that an attack in the town was "only a matter of time given how racist it is".

Friday's stabbing comes as tensions in Israel and the West Bank run high.

Right-wing activists marched through Jerusalem on Thursday night chanting "Death to Arabs" - four members of the group, including the head of the anti-assimilation lobby group Lehava, were arrested but later released on Friday morning.

Rosenfeld said on Friday that heightened security measures would be in place throughout the day, especially in Jerusalem, where Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian man during fierce clashes on Thursday.