Two wounded in terrorist stabbing at Kibbutz Tzuba hotel

Two men were wounded in a terrorist stabbing in a hotel dining room at Kibbutz Tzuba in the Judean Hills west of Jerusalem on Friday, police and first responders said. Both victims were guests of the hotel.

United Hatzalah said its paramedics provided “initial medical treatment” to the wounded, one of whom suffered “penetrating injuries to his upper torso.”

The Magen David Adom emergency service said its paramedics treated the two victims and evacuated them to Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem, describing them as “a 60-year-old male in serious condition and a 23-year-old male in moderate condition.”

The Israel Police said the assailant, a 42-year-old Arab resident of Shuafat in northeastern Jerusalem who worked at the hotel through a manpower company, was arrested by an off-duty police officer.

“To minimize the risk to remaining civilians, I subdued the terrorist using only physical force, not gunfire,” the officer said. “With the help of some others, we managed to pin him to the ground and put him in handcuffs.”

The terrorist, who was working as a dishwasher at the hotel, apparently used a kitchen knife in the attack, a police spokesman said. He said three other people were also arrested for suspected involvement.

Witnesses said that he shouted “Allahu Akbar” and he “wanted to die.” Two men who participated in subduing him said they had tied him up with belts.

The Hamas terrorist group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a shooting attack the previous day that killed six Israeli civilians in northern Jerusalem.

Following Israeli strikes in Qatar on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to prepare for targeted killings of Hamas leaders abroad in response to the shooting in the capital and a tank blast that killed four IDF soldiers in Gaza.

The IDF also expanded counter-terrorism operations across Judea and Samaria in the wake of Monday’s attack.