Three men were seriously wounded on Sunday night in a terror attack at a mall in the southern city of Gan Yavne.
Magen David Adom medics treated the victims, ages 25, 20 and 17, for multiple stab wounds before evacuating them to Assuta Hospital in Ashdod.
The two adult victims, who suffered serious head wounds, were transferred from Assuta to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv and Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikva, and were scheduled to undergo neurosurgery. The remaining victim, who was in moderate and stable condition, was scheduled for surgery at Assuta in the morning.
Security forces responding to the attack shot and killed the terrorist, who was identified as a 19-year-old Palestinian from Dura, located near Hebron in Judea.
Police said the terrorist had entered Israel illegally via a hole in the security fence, and authorities were investigating whether he was employed illegally at the mall.
The IDF said that it operated overnight in the home of the terrorist in Dura, questioning suspects and carrying out searches in the area. Israeli forces arrested nine wanted persons in total in raids throughout Judea and Samaria.
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the scene of the attack and urged civilians to arm themselves.
“We’re at war, and the enemy has additional motivation to harm us,” he said.
Hamas praised the “heroic operation” and urged Palestinians to “escalate” terror attacks on Israelis.
The attack came after an Israel Defense Forces officer was moderately wounded on Sunday morning in a stabbing at Beersheva’s central bus station.
The terrorist was shot and killed by another Israeli soldier who was on the scene, according to the military.
Hebrew-language media identified the attacker as Naji Abu Freh, 28, a resident of the nearby Bedouin city of Rahat.
