Magen David Adom (MDA) claimed many as eight people have been injured in a stabbing incident at two locations in Tel Aviv.
By Rachel Avraham
Arutz Sheva reported that Magen David Adom (MDA) claimed many as eight people have been injured in a stabbing incident at two locations on Nahalat Binyamin Street and Kalisher Street in central Tel Aviv. Medics and paramedics are providing medical treatment to four injured people, including two 24-year-olds. The terrorist was eliminated on site.
An eyewitness who spoke with Haaretz said: “My son and I were at a restaurant, and we heard chairs and tables being overturned. They said someone was stabbing, and someone in front of me had a rifle, probably a soldier. Suddenly, all the tables flew. We ran into one of the buildings, and a girl opened the door for us. We saw people who had been stabbed, and I thought, ‘Any second, he’s coming to stab me.’ It was a very difficult incident.”
Arnat, another witness, told JNS: “We heard bursts of gunfire, saw people running, and hid in the restroom. After another round of shots, we ran to a nearby shelter as sirens filled the streets.” Michal, yet another eyewitness, told Israel’s Channel 12 News: “We were sitting at a restaurant on Nahalat Binyamin, we heard gunshots, and suddenly ambulances arrived. Everyone was on the ground; glass was flying everywhere. Nahalat Binyamin was bustling with life, and suddenly everything turned upside down. All the rescue forces arrived, and people were really panicked. It was a crowded area, with people out to have fun and enjoy themselves.”
Aviyah, who works at a bar near the scene of the attack, told Yedioth Achronot: “We didn’t hear anything outside, and then we saw a lot of people running and people with guns drawn. We closed the bar with everyone inside and now we’re waiting to figure out what’s happening.” Another eyewitness, Dor, said: “He ran from the direction of Sofer Yehuda with a knife. He stabbed one person and immediately after a few moments they shot him.”
Yedioth Achronot reported that the stabbings occurred while the street was bustling with life, as it is every evening. According to the report, people who heard the gunshots fired at the stabber panicked, entered restaurants and hid under tables. Yedioth Achronot noted that a passerby who witnessed the stabbings, who are IDF soldiers from an elite unit, neutralized the terrorist. “We came down from the house, and saw the terrorist knocking a civilian to the floor. We shouted at him to stop and shot him when he refused. We fired four bullets in total,” they said. According to an eyewitness, “the terrorist got off the scooter and the driver continued driving.”
According to Haaretz, the Magen David Adom rescue service reported that two of the victims, aged 28 and 24, were moderately wounded in their upper bodies, and that the other two victims, aged 24 and 59, were lightly wounded and evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. However, JNS claimed Ichilov Hospital reported that one of the victims was admitted in moderate-to-serious condition and taken to the operating room with a stab wound to the neck.
While initially there were fears that there may be accomplices, Yedioth Achronot reported that the Tel Aviv police commissioner later arrived at the scene of the attack and announced that there was only one attacker and that the incident is over. The terrorist was identified as Kadi Abed Al Aziz, a 29-year-old Moroccan citizen with a US residency card. A senior Interior Ministry official told Haaretz that the attacker flew in from Poland and, during questioning, revealed he had no hotel, family, or friends in Israel. Although the official wanted to deny his entry, his U.S. residency led to further questioning, and ultimately, the Shin Bet security service approved his entry.
The Jerusalem Post similarly reported that Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said that border control officers at Ben Gurion Airport did not want to let the terrorist in and demanded that an investigation be opened into the matter. Apparently, Shin Bet agents overruled the decision and permitted him to enter Israel, according to reports in the Israeli media. According to Arbel, officers “transferred him to security officials for questioning, who unfortunately decided to allow his entry into Israel.” The minister called on Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar “to investigate the serious incident and draw lessons from it as soon as possible.”
