image Israeli policemen block a road where the light train passes following a stabbing attack just outside Jerusalem's Old City, according to Israeli police April 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad - RTX35J73

Stabbing attack in Jerusalem claims the life of a British exchange student

The Easter holiday did not pass without incidents, as a Palestinian man stabbed a British tourist near Jerusalem’s old city, before being arrested by Israeli security forces stationed at the scene. 

“Police units in Jerusalem responded to a terrorist knife attack that took place on the light railway in the center of Jerusalem. As a result, a 23-year-old tourist was stabbed critically, when she was stabbed in the upper part of the body. Police units rushed to the scene, and arrested 57-year-old terrorist from the Israeli-Arab Ras Al-amoud area neighborhood of Jerusalem. The suspect was apprehended and is being questioned. The female 23-year-old was taken to a hospital with critical injuries after being stabbed in the upper part of her body and unfortunately, she passed away from her wounds a short while ago. Israeli police have heightened security in Jerusalem in order to prevent any further terrorist attacks,” said Micky Rosenfeld, Israeli Police Spokesman. 

Israel’s domestic security service, the Shin Bet, identified the terrorist as 57-year-old Jamil Tamimi and said he was a Palestinian from East Jerusalem with mental health problems who was convicted in 2011 for sexually assaulting his daughter. The victim of the attack, who was identified as a 23-year-old British national who resided in Israel as part of her semester long foreign-exchange studies at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, succumbed to her wounds after the terrorist managed to stab her numerous times. 

“We arrived to a young woman who was riding in the light train (rail) near the Tzahal square. When we arrived she was in a critical condition, with knife wounds all over her body. We started CPR at scene and then we evacuated her in critical condition to Har Hatsofim hospital,” said Miriam Levi, MDA Paramedic.