Palestinians: Stabber fled husband
37-year-old Palestinian woman and mother of six stabs and lightly hurts a female soldier at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus Tuesday morning; officer at the scene fires at the attacker, who dies of her wounds a short while later; Palestinians: She was a battered wife and acted out of desperation
Hifa Hindiya, the 37-year-old Palestinian woman and mother of six who stabbed and lightly hurt a female soldier at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus Tuesday morning, was a battered wife and acted out of desperation, Palestinian sources said.
The assailant, Hifa Hindiya from the Balata refugee camp, was shot by an IDF officer during the incident and later died of her wounds.
The sources, also from Balata, said Hindiya’s husband would regularly beat her, and only yesterday she agreed to return home to him after staying with her parents; they said that a few hours later she left the house and headed for the Harawa roadblock in a desperate attempt to flee her abusive husband.
Balata residents said the husband refused to allow Hindiya’s body into the home and prevented the couple’s six children from saying their goodbyes.
Aroused the troops' suspicions
Hindiya, they said, was a member of a relatively affluent family from Nablus. Her parents own a large furniture store and residential building, but both structures were leveled by the IDF during one of its operations in the city.
According to the Palestinian sources, Hindiya was not affiliated with any terror organization and had no political motive; she acted solely out of personal distress, they said.
The sources added that Hindiya’s brother-in-law was killed by the IDF during the beginning of the intifada. He and the commander of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus, Mahmoud Titi, were both killed by IDF missile fire as they were hiding in Balata.
Hindiya arrived at the checkpoint wearing a jacket and aroused the troops' suspicions.
She then proceeded to pull out a knife, charged at a female soldier at the roadblock, and stabbed her in the face.
An officer at the scene fired at the Palestinian attacker, who sustained serious wounds. The woman was treated by Red Crescent paramedics at the scene but died a short while later. Her body was transferred to Nablus. The soldier, meanwhile, was taken to hospital for treatment.
