Palestinian Man Stabs Israelis On Tel Aviv Bus

A Palestinian man stabbed and wounded almost a dozen Israelis on a Tel Aviv bus. He attacked on Wednesday morning during rush hour and fled on foot, but security forces shot and arrested him.

Allegedly, at least three victims were hospitalized in serious condition.

The Palestinian man who attacked the Tel Aviv bus was identified as Hamza Muhammad Hassan Matrouk, 23 and from the West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Matrouk first stabbed the bus driver who tried to fight back. The assailant then stabbed a number of passengers before they opened the doors of the bus to escape.

Matrouk left the bus and continued attacking people in the street. As he ran off, armed personnel from Israel’s prison service chased after him. When Matrouk didn’t stop after they fired a warning shot in the air, personnel shot him in the legs.

Including the bus driver, the Palestinian man stabbed nine people.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Palestinian leadership for the attack. He described the stabbings as “the direct result of the poisonous incitement being disseminated by the Palestinian Authority against the Jews and their state.”

He added, “This same terrorism is trying to attack us in Paris, Brussels, and everywhere.”

When police interrogated Matrouk, he said he was motivated by the violence in Gaza and radical Islamic teachings of “reaching paradise.” He wanted to achieve that by carrying out an attack, breaking a respite of calm in the region.

In recent weeks, the Palestinian Authority government moved to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war crime cases against Israel. This led Israel to withhold more than $100 million in tax revenues it collects on behalf of Palestine’s government. Because of it, the authority hasn’t been able to pay full wages to its 150,000 employees.

Naftali Bennett, a right-wing minister of the Israeli cabinet, said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was responsible for the Palestinian man who attacked the Tel Aviv bus. Although Abbas marched in the unity rally in Paris last week, Bennett still called him a terrorist.

[Photo Credit: Sagie]

Palestinian Man Stabs Israelis On Tel Aviv Bus