Sunday, April 03, 2016

03-Apr-16: Rosh Ha'ayin: a stabbing attack and the terrorist is a woman

The scene of this afternoon's attack [Image Source]
There has been a terrorist stabbing attack in Rosh Ha'ayin today.

The reports that have gone to air until now here in Israel speak of a female attacker, armed with two knives, and a victim who is also a female. Israel National News says a security guard in the city's industrial region noticed what the stabber was doing, overpowered her without killing her, dislodged the knife from her hand without opening fire and brought the attack to an end. She was found to have a second knife in her bag.

Ynet says the victim is a woman of about thirty. At Haaretz, they say the victim has stab wounds to the arm, and after initial treatment at the site, was taken by ambulance to Beilinson Hospital, Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva where she is in stable condition.

Few details at this stage about the attacker beyond her gender and the fact that she is now in the hands of the authorities.

UPDATE: Sunday at 2:20 pm: Israel Police's truly remarkable spokesperson Luba Samri (yes, an Arab-Israeli lady and an Arab name - see this New York Times profile) says the suspected attacker is a 23-year-old Israeli citizen, an Arab resident of the Arab community of Kafr Qassem in the Tel Aviv suburbs.

UPDATE: Sunday at 5:15 pm: Israel National News names the victim as Reut Weitzman, a 30-year-old mother of three from Kfar Saba: "I went out from an office building when I saw an Arab woman approaching me, and suddenly I felt a 'boom' in my arm... I realized that she had a thick box-cutter knife, I pushed her away with my bag and I threw it at her. She kept trying to stab me, I started to push her with my hands and legs and then I screamed and other people started to arrive... I was sure she would succeed in stabbing me, because I was shouting and we were alone on the street. It took the others a bit of time to arrive and she didn't stop trying to stab me, and I was just thinking how long I would be able to push her away."

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