A Palestinian youth has sneaked into a fortified Jewish settlement in the West Bank, broken into a home and stabbed to death a 13-year-old Israeli-American girl as she slept in bed before frantic security guards arrived and killed him.
The girl, identified as Hallel Yaffa Ariel, became the youngest Israeli victim of a nine-month wave of violence that has seen dozens of Palestinian attacks.
The early-morning stabbing, carried out by a 17-year-old Palestinian, was among the most brazen attacks so far, drawing angry accusations and calls from Israeli leaders for the world to condemn the incident.
"The horrifying murder of a young girl in her bed underscores the bloodlust and inhumanity of the incitement-driven terrorists that we are facing," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman John Kirby condemned "in the strongest terms the outrageous terrorist attack" and called the stabbing "unconscionable."
Friends embrace as the body of 13-year-old Israeli girl Hillel Yaffe Ariel is brought to the family home before her funeral service Source: AAP
Kirby said Hallel was also an American citizen. Israel has a large community of dual American citizens, numbering in the tens of thousands.
Hallel was a relative of Israeli Cabinet Minister Uri Ariel, a member of the Jewish Home party, which is affiliated with the West Bank settler movement.
After the attack, Ariel said Israel would make "every effort" to expand its settlements in the West Bank.
Kiryat Arba is a hard-line Jewish settlement of about 7000 residents, located near the West Bank city of Hebron that is home to about 170,000 Palestinians.
The Palestinians claim all of the West Bank, captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war, as part of a future independent state.
The Palestinians and the international community consider the settlements to be illegal.
Since last September, Palestinians have carried out dozens of stabbings, shootings and attacks using cars that have killed 33 Israelis and two American tourists.
Rina Ariel weeps over the body of her slain 13 year old daughter Hallel during her funeral inside a Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba, West Bank, Thursday, June Source: AAP
Some 200 Palestinians have been killed during that time.
Palestinian officials say the violence is the result of despair after two decades of failed peace efforts, and a lack of hope for gaining independence after nearly 50 years of Israeli occupation.
They also accuse Israel of using excessive force, killing attackers who could have been stopped and in some cases, killing innocent people.
In a second incident later on Thursday, a Palestinian assailant stabbed two Israelis in the coastal city of Netanya before he was shot and killed by an armed civilian.
The Israelis were reported to be moderately wounded.
