A Palestinian went on a stabbing spree on a bus here on Wednesday, injuring 12 Israelis before being shot, the latest in a series of lone-wolf terror attacks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing the Palestinian authority of “poisonous incitement” against the Jewish-state.
Four of the victims were seriously injured and eight others including the bus driver suffered moderate injuries, a spokesman for the rescue services, Magen David Adom, said. Pictures released by the police showed a large knife lying on the ground. The stabbing attack took place on a bus on Menachem Begin road, a major thoroughfare in south Tel Aviv.
The attacker tried to flee the scene on foot but he was chased and shot in leg by a passing prison officer. He was taken to hospital and is being questioned. The assailant is a 23-year-old man from the West Bank city of Tulkarm, illegally residing in Israel, Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich said, adding that the “terrorist was in Israel without work visa”.
The stabbing is being treated as a “terror attack,” Israel Police foreign press spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Meanwhile, Islamist Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and whose charter vows complete destruction of Israel, hailed the stabbing attack on bus commuters as a “heroic act”.
“The attack carried out this morning is a bold, heroic act and a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and terrorism against the Palestinian people,” Izzat al-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, said. Israeli officials say the attacks stem from incitement by Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a charge reiterated by Netanyahu on Wednesday.