Israel’s bloody October months has bled into November, where a stabbing and a shooting occurred within two hours of each other, leaving three dead and five others wounded. First, the stabbing in Tel Aviv (via AP):
Police said the latest stabbing took place in southern Tel Aviv, in a shop on the second floor of an expansive office building where a group of Israelis had gathered to hold afternoon prayers.Shimon Vaknin, a witness, told reporters that a bloodied man stumbled into the room where he prayed with companions in Tel Aviv.
"He was stabbed outside, he was all slashed and bloody. We were in shock. We didn't know what happened and then someone near the door shouted there's a terrorist," Vaknin said. He described a dramatic standoff with the worshippers standing against the closed shop door as the assailant tried to force his way in.
The office building houses stores and offices and had been cordoned off by police after the attack. Israeli media showed footage of a blood-spattered floor littered with forensics gloves.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri said one of the dead was in his 20s. Details about the second victim's identity were not immediately known, but he died of his wounds in hospital, she said. A third Israeli was moderately wounded.
The news publication added that a lot of the unrest has centered on the city of Hebron, but the Tel Aviv attack has many Israelis worried that another Intifada is brewing among their Palestinian neighbors, who started launching these attacks against innocent Israelis after unfounded rumors of changes on the Temple Mount were circulated on social media. Additionally, there’s the decades-long frustration with the speed of the peace process. The month of October alone saw 609 attacks against Israel.
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Within two hours of the stabbing in Israel’s economic center, a gunman opened fire in Gush Etzion, south of Bethlehem, at an Israeli minibus, according to the Jerusalem Post. The gunman got out of the car and tried to continue his assault, but was shot and arrested by police:
MDA paramedics pronounced an 18-year old man dead on the scene after efforts to resuscitate him failed. The youth was an American tourist. An approximately 50-year old man was critically wounded and taken to Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem where he was pronounced dead.The third victim was a Palestinian bystander.
In the stabbing attack, JPost added that Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, said the attacker was a 26-year-old Palestinian from a village outside Hebron, who had an Israeli work permit for a restaurant and had no security issues. After the stabbing he tried to flee, but locals were able to stop and hold him until police arrived.
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