Tel Aviv:

Israeli police said that an assailant stabbed and seriously wounded a person in the centre of commercial hub Tel Aviv on Saturday, before being shot and “neutralised” by a civilian.

The attack came hours before a ceasefire is set to take effect in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been fighting Palestinian militant group Hamas for more than 15 months.

The police had initially spoken of a shooting with several wounded but clarified in a later statement that the “terrorist” was armed only with a knife. 

Israeli police use the term “terrorist” to refer to Palestinians who carry out attacks for political motives.

“Initial investigations reveal that a terrorist armed with a knife arrived at the restaurant area on Levontin Street and stabbed a civilian,” the later statement said.

“An armed civilian nearby shot and neutralised” the attacker.

Police said the stabbing victim was taken to hospital with serious wounds.

Emergency service provider Magen David Adom said its staff were providing medical treatment to a 30-year-old male “injured from stabbing” in the 4:30 pm (1430 GMT) attack.

It said he was taken to hospital in a conscious state.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Frankfurt:

The postponement of a Palestinian author’s award ceremony at the Frankfurt Book Fair due to the Israel-Hamas war triggered condemnation Monday from high-profile authors, while several Arab publishing groups withdrew.

The annual fair is the world’s biggest publishing trade event, bringing together thousands of book industry players and authors.

After the Palestinian group launched the deadliest assault in Israel’s history on October 7, organisers condemned the “barbaric” attack and said Israeli voices would be given prominence at the book fair.

But it was also announced that Palestinian author Adania Shibli would not be honoured with the LiBeraturpreis, a German award, at the fair, as had been originally planned.

She was due to receive the honour for her book “A Minor Detail,” a work based on the real events of a 1949 rape and murder by Israeli soldiers.

It is organised by the group Litprom, which awards it each year at the book fair.

But the group said they had decided not to go ahead with the ceremony “due to the war started by Hamas”.

It said in a statement that it was looking for a “suitable format and setting for the event at a later point,” adding that: “Awarding the prize to Adania Shibli was never in question.”

But the decision was condemned in an open letter with over 600 signatories, including Abdulrazak Gurnah and Olga Tokarczuk, both winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, and other writers including Pankaj Mishra, William Dalrymple and Colm Toibin.

The organisers were “closing out the space for a Palestinian voice”, said the letter, published on Monday.

“The Frankfurt Book Fair has a responsibility, as a major international book fair, to be creating spaces for Palestinian writers to share their thoughts, feelings, reflections on literature through these terrible, cruel times, not shutting them down,” it added.

As well as authors, it was signed by publishers and literary agents.

Some Arab publishing industry groups announced at the weekend they were pulling out of the fair, which runs from Wednesday to Sunday.

Announcing their withdrawal, Sharjah Book Authority, in the United Arab Emirates, said in a statement that “we champion the role of culture and books to encourage dialogue and understanding between people.

“We believe that this role is more important than ever.”

The Emirates Publishers Association released a similar statement, while the UAE-based National newspaper reported the Arab Publishers’ Association in Egypt had also pulled out.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)