JERUSALEM—A 25-year-old yeshivah student was rushed to the hospital in very serious condition after being stabbed by a 19-year-old terrorist around noon on Thursday near the light-rail stop at Ammunition Hill in northern Jerusalem. In a separate attack hours later, another 25-year-old was seriously wounded near the entrance to Kiryat Arba, just outside Hebron. In a third attack, a woman soldier and a number of passersby were moderately injured in Tel Aviv.
A fourth attack took place after nightfall in the northern city of Afula. A 20-year-old soldier was taken to the hospital in moderate condition after suffering a stab wound to the chest.
The Jerusalem victim was evacuated to Shaare Zedek Hospital. Police say the attacker—a resident of eastern Jerusalem—was arrested and is being questioned by police. A second Israeli, reported to be a security guard for the light-rail system, was moderately 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, and for Meir Yitzchak ben Sarah, who was attacked in Kiryat Arba.
The Jerusalem victim was attacked while walking on Sderot Haim Barlev, a major thoroughfare in the northern part 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 chased and apprehended by police.
In a third attack a few hours later, an Israel Defense Forces soldier and a second Israeli were lightly wounded in Tel Aviv near the headquarters of the defense ministry. Initial reports said that the stabber, armed with a screwdriver, injured the woman soldier in the head and then failed in an attempt to grab her gun. He attacked another pedestrian before himself fleeing on foot. He was shot dead by police near Ben-Gurion Boulevard; the victims were taken to a nearby hospital to treat their injuries.
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 on Wednesday that included a number of stabbings and other attacks, which left nearly a dozen people wounded. Rabbis around the country urged an increase in Torah study, prayer, and acts of charity and kindness in response.
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, part of the Rabin Medical Center, 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 disembarked 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 there. The attacker—who Israel police named as Amjad al-Jundi, 20, from Yatah in the West Bank—had boarded a local bus beforehand. Passengers apparently suspected that he was a terrorist; the driver stopped the bus, and the passengers fled.
The terrorist also left the bus and attacked a soldier, stealing his service rifle, and stabbing and lightly wounding him, according to police. After snatching the rifle, the attacker made his way to an 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.
Netanyahu Convenes Security Meeting
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, an Israeli man shot a knife-wielding female terrorist who stabbed him in the back near the Lion’s Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being transferred to a local hospital. The terrorist, in serious-to-critical condition, was also hospitalized.
That same morning, Arab rioters outside of Bethlehem ambushed a woman stuck in traffic, attempting to pull Rivi Lev-Ohayon of Tekoa from her vehicle.
Josh Hasten, a resident of Elazar and a 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 at other ones, hurting some of the drivers. He added that he fired his licensed pistol in the air to disperse the rock-throwers, who were also chased away by border-patrol officers, and that he feels lucky to be alive.
Late Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of internal security officials to discuss measures to control and prevent future terror attacks.
The incidents followed a week of terrorist violence that included the murders of Rabbi Eitam and Na’ama Henkin in an attack on their car in Samaria, and the stabbing deaths of Aharon Benet and Rabbi Nehemia Levi in Jerusalem.
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