Soldier recalls halting West Bank stabbing attack
Tomer, a soldier in the Home Front Command, reacted quickly despite being stabbed, shooting the attacker and preventing further bloodshed.
The soldier, who identified himself only as Tomer, was wounded lightly, while his friend was seriously wounded. "The terrorist didn't say anything, just let out a shout," said Tomer. "I knew it was a terrorist – I saw the knife, I heard my friends' shouts from inside the vehicle."
The stabbing occurred shortly after 10 AM at Sinjil junction, not far from Shilo in the West Bank. The assailant, whom a Palestinian source named as 29-year-old Mohammed Krakara, was apparently familiar to police as a criminal involved with drug deals.
"We were on our regular assignment in the morning and I was outside the vehicle," said Tomer. "A Palestinian came over and passed next to me. He did not look suspicious. He went on for about 100 meters before disappearing. After a few seconds he turned around, came back in my direction, and when he was a few meters away he started running towards me, shouting, and drew a knife."
Tomer was stabbed twice in the back and fell. "At this point he entered the vehicle, where two of my friends were sitting, and tried to stab them too. I was on the floor but I got up, aimed my weapon, and shot and killed him."
Tomer said one of his friends exited the vehicle soaked in blood. "He spoke to me and said he was fine. I saw his wounds and gave him intensive treatment. I stopped the bleeding from his neck until MDA arrived. Then they evacuated him. I feel fine myself, I just have some small wounds in my back."
Dr. Ofer Merin, head of the trauma unit at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, described the condition of the solider that had been seriously wounded: "He suffered knife wounds in the back and no risk to his life is expected. The examination showed that one of the wounds was deeper, with damage to the spine, but not severe damage.
"His condition is serious and stable, and he is under anesthesia and receiving artificial respiration. We will operate on him and transfer him to the intensive care unit."
Meanwhile, a source in the Palestinian District Coordination and Liaison headquarters told Ynet on Wednesday that the IDF raided the home of the alleged perpetrator in the stabbing attack in the West Bank that wounded two soldiers. The purported assailant's father was questioned, but not arrested.
The attacker's body was taken to L. Greenberg National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv.
