Scene of attack in Gan Yavne
(Video: Tomer Shunem Halevi, Gadi Kabalo, Avigail Ogen )
Three people were wounded, some severely, in a stabbing attack at a shopping mall in the southern town of Gan Yavne, first responders and police said Sunday night.
According to the police, the attacker was a Palestinian from the West Bank who entered Israel illegally and was working at one of the shopping center's stores. Law enforcement said that he was armed with two knives and neutralized by two cops who were nearby. Palestinian media identified him as Muamen Faiz al-Masalmeh, 19, in the city of Dura in southern Hebron West Bank.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that two young men aged 20 and 25, as well as a 17-year-old minor, sustained moderate to severe injuries in the attack. First responders administered life-saving medical treatment on-scene and evacuated them to Samson Assuta University Hospital in Ashdod.
The attack comes just hours after a knife-wielding terrorist lunged at an IDF officer in Be’er Sheva’s Central Station, lightly injuring him. The assailant, identified as Naji Abu Freikh from the Bedouin city of Rahat, was eliminated by a soldier at the scene.
Abu Freikh had a criminal record. In June 2022, he was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery in Be'er Sheva. He was brought to trial, and in a plea deal eventually signed, he was sentenced to nine months of community service,
He received nine months of community service, which he was scheduled to start serving in about two weeks, following a plea agreement.