Four people were killed and several more wounded Tuesday in a stabbing and ramming terrorist attack in southern Israel.
It was the third stabbing attack this week but was the deadliest terror attack in Israel in years.
The terrorist, who was identified as 34-year-old Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, rammed his vehicle into a cyclist, before getting out of the vehicle and stabbing several people at an open mall in the southern city of Beersheba. The terrorist was shot dead by a bus driver who was at the scene.
Warning: Graphic videos follow…
Two women who were wounded are in serious condition. Three others died shortly after arriving at the hospital while a fourth, a woman in her forties, died at the scene.
Al-Qi’an is a former terror convict from the Bedouin town of Hura who was known to support the Islamic State terror group.
An eye witness told Haaretz: “I came closer and saw a man with a knife scanning the area looking to stab, he ran between cars and people.”
Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Latif al-Qanou praised the “executor of the heroic act in Be’er Sheva. Our battle against the occupation continues and we will not stop.”
“The occupation’s crimes shall be met with heroic operations: stabbings, rammings and shootings,” al-Qanou said.
Tensions have risen in Israel and the Palestinian territories ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, slated to begin next month.
On Sunday, a 20-year-old Israeli police officer was wounded in a stabbing attack in the Arab neighborhood of Ras al-Amud in Jerusalem.
A day earlier, an Israeli man was wounded in another stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Saturday by a Palestinian terrorist.
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