Four Killed Several Wounded In Terror Attack In Southern Israel

JERUSALEM (VINnews) – Four people were killed in a suspected terrorist stabbing attack at a shopping center and gas station in Beersheba, with a number of others injured in the attack, according to emergency services.

According to Israeli police, the attack began with the assailant stabbing a woman at a gas station, murdering her. He followed up by getting back into his car and ramming into a cyclist, before exiting the vehicle and again going on a stabbing rampage, injuring several people at the BIG shopping center.

He was then confronted by an Israeli bus driver, who held a gun up and attempted to get him lower his knife. When he tried to lunge at the driver, he was shot several times by the driver as well as a second passerby, killing him on scene.

According to Magen David Adom, the original stabbing victim who passed away was a 49-year-old woman, identified as Dorit Yachbas.

An additional five victims were rushed to the hospital, where three of them passed away. One was the cyclist, and the other two were additional stabbing victims.

An additional two stabbing victims remain in the hospital in serious but stable condition.

According to Palestinian media, the suspected terrorist is identified as 34-year-old Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an.

Abu al-Qi’an previously served four years in prison for plotting to join ISIS in Syria.

The Hamas terror group praised Tuesday’s attack, saying it “salutes the executor of the heroic operation in occupied Beersheba.” The terror group did not claim the stabber as a member, however.

“The occupation’s crimes shall be met with heroic operations: stabbings, rammings and shootings,” Hamas spokesperson Abd al-Latif al-Qanou told official Hamas radio.