The Palestinian militant group Hamas praised a series of attacks in Israel on Tuesday that wounded fourteen and left an American tourist dead.

“Hamas celebrates the martyrs that have ascended through these operations,” a spokesman for the organization said, “and confirms that their pure blood will, God willing, be the fuel for escalating the intifada.”

Stabbing spree

At least ten people were injured in a stabbing spree in Jaffa in southern Tel Aviv on Tuesday night. The attacker, whom police described as a 21 year-old Palestinian from the West Bank, was shot dead after a chase along the city’s beach promenade.

The attack occurred as American vice president Joe Biden was speaking nearby at the Peres Center for Peace.

Earlier in the day, two police officers were wounded in Jerusalem in a drive-by shooting near the Damascus Gate. The shooter there was killed by police as well.

Another Israeli man was injured in Petah Tikva, a city east of Tel Aviv, when a Palestinian followed him into a store and stabbed him in the upper body. Police said the victim managed to remove the knife from his neck and used it to stab and kill his assailant.

Wave of violence

Nearly thirty Israelis have been killed since October in a wave of violence that groups like Hamas hope will trigger a broader Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against the Jewish state.

Some 170 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Israeli army; two-thirds of them while attacking Israelis and the rest in clashes with security forces.