16-Year-Old Palestinian Stabs to Death IDF Soldier
The Israeli police and its different units responded when there was a terrorist attack that took place at the Afula central bus station, killing Eden Atias.
An Israeli soldier has been stabbed to death by a Palestinian teenager on a bus in northern Israel, police say.
The 18-year-old soldier was stabbed multiple times in the neck and upper body as the bus from Nazareth stopped in the town of Afula, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, but died of his wounds.
The attacker, a 16-year-old from the West Bank town of Jenin who was working in Israel illegally, is in custody.
Other passengers on the bus subdued him before handing him over to the security forces, according to the Jerusalem Post newspaper.
Israel's northern police commander, Roni Attia, said: "By his account, his uncles are in prison in Israel and this is the reason he decided to carry out the terrorist attack."
The violence comes as the US attempts to revive faltering peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a halt to controversial plans for the construction of 24,000 new homes at Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Mr Netanyahu said the plan, announced by his housing minister, had caused unnecessary conflict with the international community at a time when Israel is pressing for a tougher stance on Iran's nuclear programme.
Funeral Update on Wednesday:
Funeral Update on Wednesday:
Thousands of grief-stricken Israelis gathered at the Nazereth Illit military cemetery on Wednesday for the burial of 18 year old Eden Atias, who was stabbed to death while sleeping on a bus by a Palestinian youth earlier that day.
Earlier Wednesday, some 150 people protested outside the Afula Bus Station where Atias had been stabbed in the neck repeatedly. The gathering, according to The Times of Israel, was to protest the government’s handling of the current peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. The objectors noted that this was simply the latest in a long line of attempted and executed terrorist attacks since the talks had begun in July.
Eye witnesses told authorities that Atias had been asleep when he was attacked by the terrorist. The Palestinian youth was captured by other bus passengers and handed over to authorities.
“The bus stopped and people had stepped out,” an eyewitness who gave her name as Yaffa told Channel 2. “A female soldier was left on the bus, along with the soldier [who was stabbed] and the terrorist. Suddenly the female soldier started screaming for help, she ran outside, she was shaking. The terrorist had stabbed the soldier, he was covered in blood.”
Atias had enlisted in the IDF just two weeks ago and was still in the midst of basic training. He was survived by his parents and two brothers, aged 24 and 18. His mother, Ilia, was quoted by Walla as saying that he had insisted on volunteering for a combat unit.
The attacker is a 16-year-old Palestinian resident of Jenin. “We heard shouting in the bus, and screaming,” Tomer, a worker at a nearby kiosk who witnessed the attack, told Yedioth Ahronoth. “Soldiers then jumped [the attacker], I saw them take him off the bus and then security guards waited with him. He looked like a child.”
The assailant, according to Israel Radio, told his interrogators that he sought to avenge two of his family members who are jailed in Israel for terrorist activities. The killer said he was enraged by the fact that his extended family was not allowed to visit his relatives.
In response to the stabbing, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said peace cannot occur if this type of Palestinian incitement continues.
“Surrounding the murderer is an education system, official Palestinian Authority newspapers, mosques and other places in Palestinian society that are full of incitement,” Netanyahu said. “If we want real peace, the incitement has to stop.”
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