One Person Killed, Another Wounded in Terror Attack in Israeli Mall

One person was killed and another wounded in a stabbing attack in an Israeli mall on Wednesday, in which the assailant was shot dead, Israeli police and medics said.

Police said it was a suspected terrorist attack.

“A terrorist who arrived on foot entered the mall and stabbed two civilians,” said Shuki Hacohen, commander of the Israel Police’s Northern District. “One of them managed to shoot the terrorist and neutralize him. The terrorist was neutralized at the scene; the two injured civilians were evacuated.”

Israel‘s Ynet news site named the accused attacker as Joud Rabia from Nahaf, an Israeli town where many members of its Arab minority live.

There was no claim of responsibility from any group, though terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad in a post on the Telegram site described the attack as a “heroic operation.”

Israeli medics told Reuters one of the two victims was pronounced dead after being rushed to hospital, and the attacker died at the mall in Karmiel, northern Israel.

Medics said earlier on Wednesday they had treated two men in their 20s, one in very serious condition and the other fully conscious.

Video shared on social media and seen by Reuters showed two men lying motionless on the floor of the mall while people tried to give them medical attention. At least one of the men receiving care was wearing a green uniform, the video showed.

A third man, not in uniform, was lying motionless a short distance away.

Israel is conducting a military offensive in Gaza following the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids and Palestinian street attacks.

In January, a Palestinian ramming attack in central Israel killed one woman and injured 12 others.