BICOM

A Palestinian assailant stabbed one civilian to death and wounded two others before he was shot and killed. The attack took place in the Israeli settlement of Adam, near Ramallah.

31-year-old Yotam Ovadia died of his wounds. He was a technician and father of two young children.

The assailant, identified as 17-year-old Mohammed Tarek Yousef, from the village of Kubar, climbed over the security fence around the settlement before 9pm. He approached Ovadia and stabbed him repeatedly in the upper torso. A second resident was also stabbed after arriving at the scene, who was rushed to a hospital in a serious condition but was later stabilised. A third resident, Assaf Raviv, saw the incident unfolding and, although stabbed, managed to shoot the assailant.

Hamas said the attack was an act of heroism and revenge for three fighters who were killed in Gaza on Wednesday.

The Kubar village is 18km from Adam and was home to Omar al-Abed, who carried out a similar attack in the settlement of Halamish in July 2017 in which three Israelis were murdered. The IDF said it was investigating a possible link between them.

Israeli security agencies are also investigating reports that Yousef posted his intentions to commit the attack on Facebook. He reportedly wrote: “Even though they’re killing them and taking their land by force, the Palestinians are silent and do nothing. Anyone who bears arms and sees the massacres is a traitor. Anyone who has a gun must remember that there is an enemy to aim at, not at the Palestinian people.”

The IDF raided Yousef’s home this morning and has reinforced the Central Command with two battalions due to concern of copycat attacks. Yesterday’s attack is the first stabbing since April 2018, when a Palestinian tried to stab an Israeli with a screwdriver near a gas station in the Ma’ale Adumim settlement.