Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal, a 29-year-old teacher of eighth-grade yeshivah students and a father of four, was stabbed to death by a terrorist at a bus stop near the entrance to Ariel.

The victim, who lived in the nearby settlement of Har Bracha, was stabbed multiple times in the upper body before the terrorist fled on foot. Paramedics from Magen David Adom and Israel Defense Force medics treated the victim at the scene before evacuating him in critical condition to Beilinson Medical Center in Petach Tikvah, where he was pronounced dead.

The attacker’s backpack, found at the scene, contained an identification card and personal items. He was identified as Abed El-Hakim, 19, an Israeli citizen and resident of Jaffa.

Ben-Gal is the second Israeli to be killed in an attack in less than a month.

On Jan. 9, Rabbi Raziel Shevach, 35, was fatally shot near Nablus in northern Samaria.

Ben-Gal and Shevach knew each other through mutual friends.

Ben-Gal with his wife and four young children
Ben-Gal with his wife and four young children