Alexander Dvorsky, the Israel Defense Forces’ soldier who was critically injured in a fatal terror attack outside the city of Ariel in Samaria on Sunday, showed significant improvement as of Tuesday morning, and is considered to be out of immediate danger.
Doctors at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah reported that Dvorsky is fully conscious and breathing on his own, and was able to speak with medical staff.
Israeli security forces continued to hunt for 18-year-old Omar Abu Laila, who is suspected of stabbing and killing 19-year-old Sgt. Gal Keidan, stealing his machine gun, and using it to fire at Dvorsky and at Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger.
Despite being mortally wounded, Ettinger, a 47-year-old yeshivah dean and father of 12 from Eli, turned his car around and begin firing at Abu Laila with his personal sidearm, in hopes of neutralizing the ongoing threat to passersby.
Ettinger was also evacuated to Beilinson, but succumbed to his wounds on Monday morning. He was buried in Petach Tikvah, in a funeral attended by more than 1,000 people were estimated in attendance, including students from his yeshivah, Oz V’Emunah, in the Neve Sha’anan neighborhood of South Tel Aviv.
Security forces continued to search for Abu Laila, but have now posited the theory that the terrorist has reached a secure hideout and so are shifting their focus to intelligence-gathering.
Abu Laila’s father and brother were arrested in connection with the attack, and Abu Laila is considered armed and dangerous, still apparently in possession of the IDF assault rifle.
Kaidan was buried in the military cemetery of Beersheva on Monday by his parents—immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union—and his two older brothers.
