News
Two Israelis killed in dual Tel Aviv and West Bank stabbing attacks
An off-duty Israeli soldier was stabbed and killed yesterday in Tel Aviv and a 26-year-old Israeli woman was also stabbed to death in a second attack in the West Bank during the evening.
The first incident took place during the early afternoon at the Hahaganah train station in Tel Aviv. 20-year-old Sgt. Almog Shiloni from Modi’in was stabbed repeatedly in the upper body with a kitchen knife by an 18-year-old Palestinian from near Nablus, who fled the scene but was quickly apprehended. Shiloni was treated for several hours but eventually succumbed to his wounds in hospital.
Meanwhile, at around 5pm, a car rammed into a popular hitchhiking post near Alon Shvut in the Gush Etzion region of the West Bank, the same location from where three Jewish Israeli teenagers were kidnapped during the summer. The car failed to cause serious damage, but the assailant exited the vehicle and stabbed several waiting commuters, including Dalia Lamkus who was pronounced dead at the scene. The attacker, a 30-year-old Palestinian from Hebron was an Islamic Jihad member and had spent five years in an Israeli prison for hurling a Molotov cocktail at an IDF patrol.
Yesterday’s attacks are the latest flashpoints during several weeks of unrest, which had been confined largely to Jerusalem. During that time, there have been two vehicle attacks by Palestinians on Jerusalem light rail commuters, killing four Israelis. Two weeks ago in Jerusalem, a local Arab resident attempted to assassinate a campaigner for greater Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount. This weekend, there was unrest in Arab communities in northern and central Israel after police shot and killed a knife-wielding demonstrator in Kfar Kana on Friday.
In response to yesterday’s attacks, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “The terrorism against us knows no borders … I’ll promise you one thing; they won’t succeed.” Meanwhile, both Islamic Jihad and Hamas released statements praising the “heroic operations.” Islamic Jihad welcomed “escalation of our people’s Intifada against the occupation.”