Two Palestinian boys, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old, stabbed and moderately wounded an Israeli security guard in Jerusalem Tuesday, Israeli police said, with the younger one now ranking as the youngest stabbing suspect in a wave of violent attacks on Israelis.
This was the first of at least three Palestinian stabbing attempts that day in the Jerusalem area.
The Israel Police said that after being stabbed, the security guard shot one of the boys, while passengers at the light rail station where the attack occurred overpowered the other assailant.
Israeli paramedics evacuate a wounded Palestinian boy, who was shot after allegedly stabbing an Israeli security guard at a tramway station in Jerusalem Nov. 10. Two knife-wielding Palestinian boys aged 12 and 13 attacked a security guard, with one shot and wounded and the other arrested, police said. The security guard was wounded and treated at the scene, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images)
Israel’s Ynet reported that the two boys behind the attack are cousins from an east Jerusalem neighborhood. It further reported that the 12-year-old was shot, while his cousin was the one overpowered by the passengers until police arrived.
HORRIFYING: The 13 y/o Arab terrorist caught, moments after stabbing attack in Jerusalem, wounding Israeli man. pic.twitter.com/Xl6BZ1ReoI
— Israel News Feed (@IsraelHatzolah) November 10, 2015“I shouted at the guard, ‘Shoot. What are you waiting for?’” eyewitness Yaakov Tal told Ynet. “He shot one bullet. I ran towards them. The guard courageously — he must have already been stabbed — ran with me. I held the boy who tried to run and brought him into the car. I saw the knife in the terrorist’s hand.”
The area police commander, Chief Superintendent Avi Cohen, praised both the security guard and passengers for acting quickly.
“The rapid determination of the guard and tram passengers prevented more innocent people from being harmed,” he said in a statement, according to the Jerusalem Post.
A second incident took place at about the same time Tuesday at the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City when a Palestinian charged at security guards waving a knife.
That guard used his weapon to shoot and, thus, “neutralized the terrorist,” the police said via Twitter. Israel police spokesman Luba Samri said the suspect sustained critical injuries.
Tuesday's third attack occurred at an intersection near Abu Dis outside Jerusalem when a man armed with a knife and screaming "Allahu akbar" ran toward Israeli border police. The police spokesman said via Twitter that the assailant was "neutralized" by police on site but did not detail his condition.
A stabbing attack last month also involved teenagers, a pair of 13-year-old and 15-year-old Palestinian cousins. That incident prompted a volley of accusations between the Israeli and Palestinian leadership with President Mahmoud Abbas accusing Israel of killing the younger assailant, Ahmed Manasra “in cold blood.” The Israeli government later released video showing Manasra recovering in a Jerusalem hospital bed after he was hit by a car during the stabbing spree.
Israeli police also released security camera video showing the cousins armed with knives hunting down their victims at a candy store, including a 13-year-old who was critically wounded.
The two teens stabbed the 13-year-old Israeli and an Israeli man after which Manasra's cousin was shot dead by police.
