Wednesday, April 26, 2017

26-Apr-17: Another Arab-on-Israeli stabbing today; same site as yesterday and assailant is related to yesterday's knifer

The lives of today's knifer, and his cousin from yesterday's knifing, are in
the hands of emergency surgeons at Rabin Medical Center today [Image Source]
If you saw our report yesterday about a stabbing attack on Israelis at Hawara Checkpoint in the Samaria District, you'll know that the assailant failed in his mission and ended the day yesterday in Beilinson Hospital being treated for serious bullet wounds. His name is Amjad Maher Jaafar (Haaretz gives his surname not as Jaafar but as Salah), his home is in Balata, a bustling neighbourhood (though often called a refugee camp) of the Palestinian Arab city of Nablus, and he is 17.

At about 1:30 pm this afternoon (Wednesday), there was another Arab-on-Israeli stabbing attack at more or less the same spot as yesterday's attack. 

Times of Israel says no Israelis are reported injured and that, according to an IDF spokesperson, the soldiers who came under attack responded with gunfire. The result is similar to what happened yesterday: the assailant took bullets in the stomach, was taken to Rabin Medical Center's Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva for emergency treatment (like yesterday's stabber), and is said to be in “serious condition, unconscious and on a ventilator”.

Here's what Ma'an News Agency, a Palestinian Arab mouthpiece, says about today's knife-man:
Locals identified the wounded Palestinian as 16-year-old Saleh Omar Saleh from Balata refugee camp in southern Nablus. According to locals, Saleh is the cousin of 17-year-old Amjad Maher Jaafar, who was shot multiple times in the stomach at the same location less than 24 hours earlier, after he too allegedly attempted to carry out a stabbing attack on Israeli soldiers.
(In Arab society, the word "cousin" can have a broader meaning than we are accustomed to, and may refer to members of the same clan. And though we have no way of knowing at this point, reports in the Hebrew social media describes today's attacker being aged 20.)

Today's attempted stabbing extends a daily sequence that so far includes:
and in the previous week 

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