An Israeli soldier's body was found with multiple stab wounds near a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank south of Jerusalem on Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was killed by a Palestinian attacker.
The incident sparked a manhunt by security forces and risked boosting Israeli-Palestinian tensions weeks ahead of September 17 Israeli polls.
It occurred between Bethlehem and the flashpoint city of Hebron in the West Bank.
"Today in the early morning hours, a soldier's body was found with stabbing marks on it adjacent to a (Jewish) community north of Hebron," Israel's army said in a statement, while not immediately accusing anyone.
Troops, police and the Shin Bet intelligence agency were searching the area, it said.
Netanyahu called it "a serious stabbing attack."
He said security forces are now in pursuit to capture the attacker, he said in a statement.
Newly drafted 19-year-old Dvir Sorek was a student at a yeshiva -- or Jewish seminary -- in the settlement of Migdal Oz, near where the body was found.
He was in a program that combined military service with religious study, the seminary head told Israeli public radio.
Israeli police were blocking access to the area around where the body was found on Thursday and medics were at the scene, an AFP correspondent said.
The body appeared to have been located around 30 to 40 meters outside the gate of the settlement.
Thursday's incident came at a sensitive time, with Israel heading towards a general election on September 17. It also occurred just ahead of Eid al-Adha holiday.
Netanyahu is widely seen as wanting to avoid a major flare-up in either the West Bank or the Gaza Strip before the elections, but he will also likely face political pressure to act firmly.
