A 58-year-old man was seriously wounded and a 25-year-old was moderately hurt Friday in a stabbing attack at the dining hall of a hotel in Kibbutz Tzuba, in the Jerusalem Hills.
The assailant, a 42-year-old resident of the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem with a record of security offenses, worked at the hotel. He was arrested by an officer from the Negev Central Unit who was staying there. One of the injured victims is a relative of the officer. Witnesses said the attacker shouted that he “wanted to die.”
Scene of the attack
Police said in a statement: “A terrorist from the Shuafat refugee camp stabbed hotel guests at Kibbutz Tzuba, wounding them. A police officer from the Negev Central Unit who was staying at the hotel engaged and subdued the terrorist, arresting him. Large Border Police forces from the Mateh Yehuda station are at the scene.”
The officer later recounted that when he noticed the attack, he did not have time to draw his weapon and instead jumped on the assailant, overpowering him until he could be handed over to security forces.
Magen David Adom medic Roi Ben Shoham said: “When I arrived at the entrance, I saw a wounded man sitting in the parking lot, conscious and suffering from a stab wound to the chest. Our team gave him initial treatment, including bandaging, stopping the bleeding and administering oxygen, and evacuated him to the hospital in an intensive care ambulance in moderate condition. With the help of security guards who had subdued the attacker, we searched the area and found another victim, a man about 60, inside the dining hall with a stab wound to the chest. We treated him, stopped the bleeding and gave him medication before evacuating him in serious condition.”
United Hatzalah paramedic Shir Hever added: “When we arrived, we saw a 58-year-old man and a 25-year-old man with penetrating injuries to the chest. They were fully conscious. The older man was in serious condition and had difficulty breathing, while the younger was in moderate condition. They said they were standing near the coffee area when someone came from behind, and they felt like they were struck. They didn’t see who it was before he ran off. There was a lot of commotion. In cases like this, the most important thing is to get the victims to the hospital quickly. We stopped the massive bleeding and evacuated them to Hadassah Ein Kerem.”