(archive photo)
צילום: גלית קוסובסקי
Palestinian who tried to stab soldier dies of wounds
Youth dies after being struck in the head by soldier trying to subdue him. Army says he approached patrol in Gush Etzion with knife and tried to stab soldiers. Palestinians say he was mentally ill and posed no threat
A Palestinian youth who attempted to stab IDF soldiers on patrol in Gush Etzion on Thursday died of his wounds, sustained in the attack.
Palestinians sources said that the youth, 21-year-old Jihad Sha'ar, was mentally ill. Witnesses said that Sha'ar was far away from the soldiers and did not pose a threat to them. They said however that it was possible that Sha'ar was wielding a knife.
The army said that at 10:30 am a Palestinian man began advancing towards a group of soldiers on patrol near Tekoa. The man drew a knife and attempted to stab a soldier but another nearby soldier prevented the attack and hit the youth with his baton.
Sha'ar was critically wounded from the blow to his head and despite attempts by IDF medics to resuscitate him, died shortly afterwards.
An initial IDF probe into the incident determined that the second soldier initially intended to shoot the attacker, but concerned that he might accidentally hit the first soldier he decided to strike the attacker with a baton.
The young man's body was transferred to the Red Crescent organization.
The army said that it had not received any information regarding the man's mental condition and that as far as the IDF was concerned he was an armed threat who tried to assault soldiers.
Ali Waked contributed to this report
