A 25-year old yeshiva student was rushed to the hospital in very serious condition after being stabbed by a 19-year-old terrorist at around noon Thursday near the light rail stop at Ammunition Hill in north Jerusalem. In a separate attack hours later, another 25-year-old was seriously wounded just outside the entrance to Kiryat Arba, just outside Hebron. In a third attack a woman soldier and a number of passersby were moderately injured in an attack in Tel Aviv.
The Jerusalem victim was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital. Police say the attacker, a resident of East Jerusalem, was arrested and is being questioned by police. A second Israeli, reported to be a light rail security guard, was very lightly hurt after wrestling with the attacker in an attempt to prevent him from fleeing the scene.
Although the full names of the victims have not yet been released, friends of the student in Jerusalem requested that Psalms be recited on behalf of Aaron Moshe Chaim ben Chana.
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The Jerusalem victim was attacked while walking on Sderot Haim Barlev, a major thoroughfare in the north of the city. The terrorist then ran to the light rail stop where he unsuccessfully tried to steal a gun from a security guard. He was then chased and apprehended by police.
In a third attack few hours later, a woman soldier and a second Israeli were lightly wounded in a stabbing attack on the streets of Tel Aviv near the defense ministry headquarters. Initial reports said the stabber, armed with a screwdriver, stabbed the soldier in the head and then failed in an attempt to grab her gun. He then attacked another passerby before fleeing on foot. He was shot dead by police near Ben Gurion Boulevard and the victims were taken to a nearby hospital with light wounds.
Stabbings Follow Days of Growing Terrorism
Earlier in the day, Israeli officials and rabbinic leaders called for calm and vigilance after a day of terrorist violence Wednesday that included a number stabbings and other attacks which left close to a dozen people wounded. Rabbis around the country urged increases in Torah study, prayer and acts of charity and kindness in response to the attacks.
In Petach Tikvah, a 25-year-old man from Kfar Chabad was stabbed on Wednesday evening near a shopping center. The victim was lightly injured and taken to Beilinson hospital nearby for treatment after being treated at the scene by United Hatzalah paramedics. The attacker drew his knife and ran towards a crowd of civilians as he and his victim left a city bus. Security guards succeeded in overpowering him.
In Kiryat Gat, a woman told reporters that “she was sure her life was over” after a terrorist armed with a stolen rifle without ammunition stormed into her kitchen and tried to stab her with a knife that he took from there. The attacker – who Israel police named as Amjad al-Jundi, 20 from Yatah in the West Bank – had boarded a local bus just before the attack started. Soon after he boarded, passengers suspected he was a terrorist and the driver stopped the bus and the passengers fled. The terrorist also left the bus, attacked a soldier, stealing his service rifle and stabbing and lightly wounding the soldier, police said. After snatching the rifle the attacker then made his way to the apartment building, where he entered Liat Ohana’s apartment on the third floor. Ohana and her mother escaped before the terrorist was shot and killed by security officials.
Earlier in the day Wednesday an Israeli man shot a knife-wielding female terrorist who stabbed him in the back near Jerusalem’s Lion’s Gate in the Old City. The man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being transferred to a local hospital, he said. The terrorist, who is in serious-to-critical condition, was hospitalized.
Also in the morning, Arab rioters outside of Bethlehem ambushed a woman stuck in traffic, attempting to pull Rivi Lev-Ohayon, a resident of Tekoa, from her vehicle. Josh Hasten, a resident of Elazar and freelance writer for The Jerusalem Post, told the newspaper that he was driving past Beit Sahour and was about 500 meters from an IDF checkpoint when he saw traffic slow to a crawl, and then “around 50 Arabs began running toward me with murder in their eyes.” Hasten said they began throwing rocks and cinder blocks at his car and others, drivers of which were lightly hurt. He then added that he fired his licensed pistol in the air to scatter the rock-throwers, who were also chased away by Border Patrol officers and that he feels lucky to be alive.
Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of internal security officials to discuss measures designed to control and prevent future terrorist attacks.
The attacks this week followed a week of terrorist violence that included the murders of Rabbi Eitam and Naama Henkin in an attack on their car in Samaria, and the stabbing deaths last week of Aharon Benet and Rabbi Nehemia Levi in Jerusalem.
