08-Apr-15: Near Shiloh, a stabbing attack this morning

Israel National News says this is the scene of this morning's
knifing attack [Image Source]

According to Ynet ["Two IDF soldiers hurt in West Bank stabbing attack"], an attack took place in the past couple of hours at Sinjil Junction, close to the community of Shiloh in the Samaria District north of Jerusalem.

An IDF serviceman, reportedly about 20 years old, was seriously injured, evidently with stab wounds to the neck and upper body. He was rushed to Jerusalem's Shaarei Zedek Medical Center for emergency care. A second IDF serviceman suffered light injuries. The attacker, a Palestinian Arab it appears, was shot dead at the site by security forces. Searches are underway right now for others involved in the attack which evidently took place inside an IDF ambulance. It is likely the stabbing victims were medics (hovshim, in Hebrew).

"At 10:07, Magen David Adom's Jerusalem district received a message that a 20-year-old man had been stabbed on Route 60, close to the entrance to the Ma'ale Levona settlement. Medics and paramedics treated him at the site and evacuated him to a hospital in Jerusalem in serious condition with stab wounds to his upper body," said an MDA spokesman. [Ynet today]

Over at Israel National News, they report that there are two wounded Israelis in addition to the young man now in hospital. One of the two is said to be in moderate condition. The search now underway is in pursuit of Arab attackers, making a group of four perpetrators in all, including the one killed at the scene.

That same INN report reminds us that the most recent knifing attack on an Israeli target took place a mere five days ago. A young Palestinian Arab resident of Tulkarem, an underage minor with no prior security record until now, stabbed an IDF soldier of 22, the commander of a paratrooper unit, at Oranit Checkpoint along the Trans-Samaria Highway this past Thursday afternoon, April 2. The victim suffered stabbing injuries to the upper body including the head. He was rushed to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva in mild to moderate condition and conscious. We heard him describe his injuries the next day in a news radio interview. His soldiers had been rushed into the area after six Palestinian Arabs were detected illegally crossing the security barrier and attempting to cross into Israeli-controlled territory. In the course of that arrest, the attacker whipped out a knife and stabbed the officer who, despite the knife wounds and blood loss, managed to overpower the young thug. The officer is recovering.

We're praying today's outcome is no less benign for the on-duty knifing victims.