Four Israelis were killed and several injured on Tuesday in a suspected Islamic terrorist attack. The ramming and stabbing attack in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba was carried out by an Islamic State sympathizer who had recently been released from prison.
The four victims murdered in the attack were named as “Doris Yahbas, 49, a mother of three, Laura Yitzhak, 43, also a mother of three, Rabbi Moshe Kravitzky, a father of four, and Menahem Yehezkel, 67, a brother to four,” The Times of Israel reported.
The Israeli media said the attacker was identified as Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, an ISIS-linked jihadi who served a four-year prison sentence for terror-related activities.
The killing spree ended when the attacker was taken down by two armed Israeli civilians who happened to be at the scene. “Qi’an was shot after being confronted by armed passersby in the area,” the Israeli TV channel i24News reported.
Israeli news website Ynetnews covered the terrorist attack:
At least four people died and others were hurt, some seriously, in a ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Be’er Sheva on Tuesday.The man ran to a second and then third location nearby and stabbed people there as well before he was shot.The assailant who was identified as a Bedouin from the Negev city of Hura, a citizen of Israel. He was shot on the scene by a bus driver who was in the area.Prime Minister Naftali Bennett summoned a meeting with police and security agencies to discuss the attack and the concern over possible outbreaks of violence during the holy month of Ramadan.According to initial reports, the man, a resident of the Bedouin city of Hura, near Be’er Sheva had recently been released from prison and known to have been a sympathizer of the Islamic State. Some reports claim he had in the past, tried to join IS forces in Syria.
Palestinian terrorist groups cheered the latest killing of innocent civilians, including women and the elderly, as a “heroic” act by one of their own. The Jerusalem Post reported:
Hamas spokesman Abd al-Latif al-Qanou welcomed the attack, saying “the crimes of the occupation are met only with heroic stabbing, ramming and shooting operations.” Tuesday was also the anniversary of the assassination of Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin.The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist movement congratulated the attack, saying “the operation comes in the natural context of responding to the crimes of Zionist terrorism in the occupied Negev.”
The attack comes as Israel and the region gear up for Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, which will begin next week. The last year’s Ramadan celebrations were marred by Palestinian rioting and violent attacks on Jews in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities. The 2021 Ramadan street violence was followed by relentless Hamas rocket fire on Israeli towns and cities.
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