A 19-year-old Israeli wounded in a stabbing attack in the West Bank on Monday described wrestling with the Palestinian terrorist, trying to strike him with a rock and only realizing afterward that he had been stabbed repeatedly.
“I fought him, chased him with a rock, and then I saw that I was covered in blood and had stab wounds to my head, neck and hand,” Netanel Yaakobs said from Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva after his condition stabilized.
Netanel Yaakobs, wounded in the West Bank stabbing attack
(Photo: Magen David Adom)
Yaakobs was initially listed in moderate to serious condition after being attacked at the Ma’oz Yehuda farm near the Palestinian village of Usarin.
The terrorist entered the farm and stabbed Yaakobs several times before fleeing, according to the report. Magen David Adom paramedics treated Yaakobs at the scene before evacuating him to the hospital.
About an hour later, troops from the IDF’s 411th Artillery Battalion located the attacker in the nearby village of Qabalan. Soldiers entered a house during searches, and the terrorist was killed by the company commander after attempting to stab troops at point-blank range.
‘The knife broke’
Yaakobs said the confrontation quickly became a hand-to-hand struggle.
“I punched him, pushed him, he fell to the ground and I fell with him,” he said. “We were both lying on the ground. I tried to reach for some kind of rock to throw at his head, but I couldn’t reach it.”
The attacker was still holding his knife, Yaakobs said.
“The knife broke and only the blade was left. He tried to keep stabbing me with it. I got to him, choked him, and then he managed to escape toward his car.”
Only after the confrontation ended, he said, did he fully grasp the extent of his injuries.
Yaakobs’ parents, Avdiel and Penina, said their son was now in good and stable condition and described his survival as extraordinary.
“We thank the Creator of the world that we were privileged, on the 25th of Elul, the day of the creation of the world, to have our son Netanel created anew,” they said.
“His condition is now good and stable, but without the bravery and the miracles, this could easily have ended differently.”
They called for tougher action against villages from which terrorists emerge, urging the IDF and government to conduct weapons seizures and more extensive security operations.
Attack reported at 10:38 a.m.
Magen David Adom said the first report of the attack reached its Yarkon district emergency hotline at 10:38 a.m.
Emergency medic Aviel Mamelia said responders found Yaakobs fully conscious with several stab wounds.
“We provided him with initial medical treatment together with an IDF medical team, and he was evacuated to the hospital in moderate to serious condition,” Mamelia said.
His condition later stabilized.
Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan called for a broad military operation in the area, including a full closure and house-to-house weapons searches.
“I strengthen the hands of the IDF soldiers and pray for the recovery of the wounded man,” Dagan said, calling on security forces to “crush the infrastructure of terror supporters.”