Two eight-year-old Palestinian children who were apprehended with knives near Migdal Oz in the West Bank on Wednesday told authorities that they were sent to carry out a terrorist attack, The Times of Israel reported.

“A short while ago forces identified and apprehended two Palestinian children under the age of ten near the community of Migdal Oz,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “During the initial questioning the children admitted to have been sent, armed with knives, in order to carry out a terror attack.”

“When two, eight-year-old children are sent on a mission to attack Israeli civilians it is clear that the hateful rhetoric that echoes within Palestinian society abuses the most vulnerable of mind,” IDF Spokesperson Peter Lerner said.

The children were initially spotted near the security fence around Migdal Oz. A video of them approaching the town was tweeted by Lerner.

This evening #IDF apprehended 2 eight years old!!! Palestinians w/ knives on their way to Migdal Oz, to carry out an attack #ShareIfYouCare pic.twitter.com/aFlx7mnlxr — Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) October 26, 2016

The wave of Palestinian terrorism that began in September of last year, in which 42 people were killed and more than 570 injured, has featured a number of Palestinian youths as attackers. The Palestinian Authority, which pays salaries to terrorists and recently named a school after the terrorist mastermind behind the 1972 Munich massacre, has frequently been criticized for encouraging children to kill Israelis.

In July, the PA’s official newspaper praised Palestinian youth who died after carrying out or attempting to carry out stabbing attacks against Israelis, claiming they followed “the path of excellence and superiority.” In April, the PA organized a high school reading program that praised a terrorist who murdered three people, including American peace activist Richard Lakin. The same terrorist was separately honored at three Palestinian universities.

Such incitement has long been tied to acts of terrorism by Israeli authorities and experts. A 15-year-old Palestinian who stabbed an Israeli mother of six to death in January was motivated by the incitement broadcast on Palestinian television, according to an investigation by Israel’s internal security agency. Similarly, the families of two 13-year-old Israeli-Arab girls who stabbed a security guard in Ramle said the kids were incited by watching inflammatory videos on social media.

Multiple surveys of Palestinian public opinion have found widespread support for terror attacks against Israeli civilians, as well as negative perceptions of Jews. A poll published by a Ramallah-based firm in April found that more than 60 percent of Palestinians approve of “armed attacks against Israeli civilians inside Israel.” Of all age groups, youths between the ages of 18 and 22 were “the least supportive of the two-state solution” and “the most supportive of stabbing attacks,” according to the poll.

Dan Polisar, the provost of Shalem College, explained in Mosaic Magazine in November that these polls reveal the extent to which “Palestinian perpetrators of violence reflect and are acting on the basis of views widely held in their society.”

[IDF Spokesperson’s Office ]