An off-duty Israeli soldier was killed and another man seriously wounded after being stabbed by two Palestinians in a supermarket north of Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reported on Thursday.
Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, was evacuated from the West Bank market where he was attacked and hospitalized in critical condition before being pronounced dead. According to the IDF, Weissman served in the Nahal infantry brigade. The second man, 35, is receiving treatment at the Hadassah Hospital in Mount Scopus.
The Palestinian assailants– both described as 14-year-old males from the city of Beitunia near Ramallah– spent 20 minutes scoping the market for victims before carrying out their attack, according to Israel’s Channel 10. They were shot by an armed civilian who came to help after hearing the commotion. Both were hospitalized in serious condition.
“I was in the middle of selecting vegetables inside when suddenly we heard screaming. Everyone immediately knew it was a terror attack,” a witness told Army Radio. “Within a matter of seconds soldiers and civilians with weapons rushed over… they shot the first terrorist and after 10 seconds or so they shot the second terrorist as well.”
A military medic who was shopping at the market administered first aid to the victims on the scene. They were later treated by Magen David Adom paramedics before being evacuated.
“We found him between the aisles in the supermarket with stab wounds to his upper body,” said Shalom Galil, the paramedic who treated Weissman. “We gave him medical treatment that included stopping the bleeding, hydration and dressing [the wounds].” The 35-year-old victim was found conscious, also with stab wounds to his upper body.
The Sha’ar Binyamin industrial zone where the supermarket is located has experienced several terrorist attacks in recent months.
According to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency services, terrorists have killed 30 people and injured over 350 in 179 stabbings, 74 shootings, and 38 car-ramming attacks since September 13, 2015. Leading Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have been accused of inciting the violence and glorifying Palestinians who carry out attacks against Israelis.
Abbas consoled families of 11 Palestinian terrorists—including the relatives of a man who hacked a Jerusalem rabbi to death in October—during two separate meetings earlier this month, calling the attackers “martyrs.” The first meeting took place hours after three Palestinian men gunned down an Israeli policewoman in Jerusalem. Fatah, the party led by Abbas, praised the shooters as “role models.”
[Photo: Israel Police]