This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.On 10 February 2010, Palestinian Authority police officer Muhammad Hatib stabbed Druze Israeli soldier Ihab Khatib to death as the latter was sitting in a jeep at a traffic light.

[1][2] The attack was considered part of an "emerging trend" at the time, involving assaults on Israelis by members of the Palestinian Authority security services.

In the preceding months, settlers were accused of having launched attacks on their Palestinian neighbors, including setting vehicles, homes, and a mosque on fire.

[8] According to Isabel Kershner, this attack took place at a "delicate time" when Israeli and Palestinian security services were attempting to build "mutual trust.

"[13] Writing in Haaretz, security analyst Avi Issacharoff described the attack as part of an "emerging trend," a series of attacks on Israelis carried out by Palestinian security personnel, including the killing of Killing of Rabbi Meir Hai two months earlier, caused by incitement to terrorism by members of the Palestinian Authority government.

[1] Ihab Khatib, a Druze Israeli policeman, was on his way from Jenin to a military outpost near Tapuah Junction, and was sitting alone in his jeep with the window open, waiting at a traffic light.

[5] Israeli Brigadier General Nitzan Alon, who had had contact with the killer shortly after the incident, reported that Hatib had "said he was tired of living"[22] and that the subsequent investigation failed to reveal any signs of "organisational affiliation or of clear ideological reasons", linking the act to militant groups or a larger plot.

[9] Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad issued a "rare" condemnation of the attack, stating that it "conflicts with our national interests", and pledged to take steps to prevent such incidents in the future.

However, an Israeli government source said that while the Palestinian Authority had made marked improvements in its security apparatus, it was more hesitant in dealing with extremists in its own movement.