Terror attack in Tel Aviv: Palestinian stabs, critically wounds IDF soldier
Police arrest 18-year-old Nablus resident for stabbing; victim rushed to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer.
By BEN HARTMAN, JPOST.COM STAFFScene of Tel Aviv stabbing
An approximately 20-year-old IDF soldier was stabbed and critically injured in Tel Aviv near Hahagana train station on Monday in what police say was a terror attack.Paramedics transported the victim to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer where he was set to undergo surgery.Police caught the suspect hiding in a nearby building while conducting searches immediately after the attack.They said that all signs pointed to the incident being a nationalistically motivated attack. The suspect is an 18-year-old Nablus resident who was illegally in Israel.An initial investigation into the incident found that a soldier who was near the train station was attacked by a man armed with a knife who jumped on him and began to stab him in his upper body. The suspect appeared to be attempting to take the soldier's weapon.Passersby at the scene came to the assistance of the victim, pushing the suspect off of him. The suspect then fled.Tel Aviv police arrived at the scene and were directed to the stairwell of a nearby building where the suspect had fled following the attack.Police surrounded the building, entered and arrested the suspect.The suspect himself was lightly injured while trying to flee the scene. Two additional bystanders were treated for shock.Tweets by @Benhartman
Senior MDA paramedic Moshe Amir described the scene of the attack: "On the street near the train station an approximately 20-year-old youth was lying unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. There was a big crowd."Paramedics succeeded in resuscitating the youth, before transporting him to hospital.Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch visited the scene in the aftermath of the attack.The incident came amid increased tensions following a number of recent terror attacks in Jerusalem, as well as riots in northern Israel after police shot and killed an Arab man armed with a knife in Kafr Kana over the weekend.