The latest incidents come amid a surge of attacks in Israel and the West Bank districts of Judea and Samaria.
By Jonathan Hessen and Erin Viner
An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man in his twenties was severely injured in a terrorist stabbing attack in Jerusalem on Saturday by a knife-wielding Palestinian assailant, who then fled the scene.
Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman immediately mobilized all precinct forces to capture the suspect. Patrolmen who rushed to the area quickly identified a suspect matching the terrorist’s description, who ignored orders to halt and ran toward a public football field in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood where dozens of Arab children were playing soccer.
Following a foot chase, Muhammad Abu Qutaish, 16, of the West Bank town of Anata, emerged from an alley and attempted to stab one of the officers in pursuit. “There was life threatening danger to civilians in the area,” said the officer, who fired a single shot that successfully neutralizing the attacker, who was evacuated to the Hadassah Mount Scopus hospital in serious condition.
The victim underwent surgery for stab wounds to his upper back at the Sha’arei Tzedek Medical Center. He remains in severe but stable condition, said Sha’arei Tzedek Trauma Unit Director Dr. Alon Schwartz.
In other violence, the senior leader of the Nablus “Lion’s Den” (Arin el-Assud in Arabic) terror group, Tamer Kilani, was killed overnight when locals said an incendiary explosive device was detonated near his motorcycle.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit declined to comment on the explosion, which comes amid unceasing operational counter-terror activity by Israeli forces as part of Operation Waves Breaker to uproot terror.
The recently-formed “Lions’ Den” is an umbrella of Palestinian terror factions belonging to the Fatah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) groups. The group has vowed to retaliate against Israel for Kilani’s death with “a harsh and painful response.”