JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to calm Israelis on Thursday as a wave of Palestinian stabbing attacks spread deeper into Israel and clashes erupted across the West Bank.

Netanyahu has come under fire from hard-liners within his own governing coalition as well as opposition lawmakers for not putting an end to the surging violence, which erupted weeks ago over tensions surrounding a Jerusalem site revered by Muslims and Jews.

The unrest began with clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police within the Jerusalem hilltop compound.

But in recent days, the violence has intensified and a series of attacks by Palestinians, carried out mainly by young people with no known links to armed groups, has shocked Israelis and raised fears of a new uprising.

“Israelis are acting with bravery, courage, restraint and determination to neutralize and kill the terrorists in the act,” Netanyahu told reporters at a news conference with top defense officials.

“With persistence, systematically and with determination, we will prove that terror doesn’t pay,” he said.

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Israelis around the country have watched warily in recent days as the violence spread away from Jerusalem and the West Bank and deep into Israel. The violence continued Thursday, with four separate stabbing attacks in Jerusalem, the West Bank, Tel Aviv and northern Israel that wounded several Israelis.

In the Tel Aviv incident, a Palestinian stabbed four Israelis with a screwdriver before a soldier shot and killed him.

Palestinian protesters, meanwhile, clashed with Israeli forces in a number of locations in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, where a 20-year-old protester was killed by live fire, according to a Palestinian hospital official and witnesses.

Four Israelis have been killed in attacks over the past week. Seven Palestinians, including four alleged attackers, have been killed in the unrest. More than 130 Palestinians have been wounded in demonstrations and clashes across the West Bank and east Jerusalem.


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