{"id":18498,"date":"2022-03-22T17:53:10","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=18498"},"modified":"2022-03-22T17:53:10","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T17:53:10","slug":"4-killed-2-seriously-hurt-in-stabbing-attack-at-beersheba-mall-terrorist-shot-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/03\/22\/4-killed-2-seriously-hurt-in-stabbing-attack-at-beersheba-mall-terrorist-shot-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"4 killed, 2 seriously hurt in stabbing attack at Beersheba mall; terrorist shot dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded Tuesday in a ramming and stabbing attack at an outdoor shopping mall in Beersheba in Israel\u2019s deadliest terror attack in years, officials said.<\/p>\n

According to police, the assailant first stabbed a woman to death at a gas station in the southern city. He then entered his car and rammed a cyclist, before getting out again and stabbing several people at the BIG shopping center.<\/p>\n

The terrorist was confronted by an armed bus driver, who attempted to get him to lower his weapon, footage from the scene showed. The attacker lunged at the driver, who shot him several times alongside a second armed Israeli civilian. Israeli first responders reported that the stabber died from his gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n

Police commissioner Kobi Shbtai said the entire incident lasted eight minutes, with police officers arriving at the scene four minutes after being alerted.<\/p>\n

Magen David Adom medics reported that a 40-year-old Israeli woman died on the scene after being stabbed. Five other victims of the attack were rushed to Soroka Medical Centerm, where the cyclist and two of the stabbing victims died of their wounds.<\/p>\n

Palestinian media identified the stabber as 34-year-old Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi\u2019an,\u00a0a terror convict<\/a>\u00a0from the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev. Abu al-Qi\u2019an, who died of his wounds on the scene, had served four years in prison for plotting to join the fundamentalist Islamic State terror group in Syria. He was released in 2019. Shabtai said he likely acted alone in Tuesday\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n

The remaining two victims of the attack remained in serious but stable condition at the hospital.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Tuesday\u2019s rampage was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since June 2016, when two terrorists opened fire at Tel Aviv\u2019s Sarona Market, killing four people and wounding 16.<\/p>\n

The Hamas terror group praised the stabbing attack, saying it \u201csalutes the executor of the heroic operation in occupied Beersheba.\u201d The terror group did not claim the stabber as a member, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe occupation\u2019s crimes shall be met with heroic operations: stabbings, rammings and shootings,\u201d Hamas spokesperson Abd al-Latif al-Qanou told official Hamas radio.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The scene of a car ramming and stabbing attack at the BIG shopping center in Beersheba, southern Israel, on March 22, 2022. (Flash90)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The bus driver who confronted and shot the terrorist later recounted trying to talk the stabber down before shooting him.<\/p>\n

Arthur Chaimov told Channel 12 he\u2019d arrived at a traffic circle near the BIG shopping center, and first thought there had been a car accident.\u00a0But when he saw a man running around seemingly brandishing a knife, he got out of the bus with his personal weapon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got closer and then I saw he had a knife. I saw a man [lying] wounded. I told [the stabber] several times: \u2018I\u2019m asking you to put down the knife. I won\u2019t shoot you. He said \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n
Arthur Chaimov, a bus driver who shot a terrorist after a deadly stabbing attack in Beersheba, speaks to Channel 12 news (screenshot)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Al-Qi\u2019an lunged at him several times, with Chaimov moving back each time, as seen in a video of the incident. Eventually, the assailant got too close and Chaimov, sensing danger, fired his weapon.<\/p>\n

Chaimov stressed he\u2019d done all he could to avoid shooting the terrorist and was pained to have done so, despite al-Qi\u2019an\u2019s murderous actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a person, not an animal you need to kill. He was also a person\u2026 We\u2019re human beings, we\u2019re not animals,\u201d Chaimov said. \u201cI\u2019m not used to such a situation, to shoot a person. I\u2019m sorry for him but he brought it on himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attack comes amid a string of attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank.<\/p>\n

On Sunday,\u00a0two officers were hurt in a suspected stabbing attack in East Jerusalem\u2019s Ras al-Amud\u00a0neighborhood, and on Saturday, an Israeli man was stabbed and\u00a0lightly hurt when he was out jogging on Jerusalem\u2019s Hebron Road.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month there were\u00a0several attacks in Jerusalem\u2019s Old City, and in a\u00a0nearby West Bank town.<\/p>\n

Tensions have between Israel and the Palestinians in recent weeks across the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Ten Palestinians were killed in violent confrontations with Israeli troops: some died in gun battles with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, while others during attempted attacks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The scene of a car ramming and stabbing attack outside the \u2018BIG\u2019 shopping center in Beer Sheva, southern Israel, on March 22, 2022. (Flash90)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Defense Minister Benny Gantz offered his condolences to the victims\u2019 families. \u201cThe IDF and security forces will use all means to prevent terrorist incidents, as much as possible. We are on high alert against all threats in all areas,\u201d Gantz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will make sure that anyone who encourages or supports the latest attacks, will pay a price,\u201d Gantz added during a tour of the military\u2019s northern command.<\/p>\n

Arab Israeli parties condemned the attack, with both the Islamist Ra\u2019am party \u2013 which is a member of the coalition government \u2014 and the opposition Joint List party using the word \u201cpigua,\u201d which is widely used in Hebrew to describe any nationalistic attack, but which strongly implies terrorism.<\/p>\n

\u201cRa\u2019am condemns this despicable attack in Beersheba and sends its condolences to the families of those murdered,\u201d Ra\u2019am said in statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cRa\u2019am calls on all citizens to preserve the common, fragile social fabric, to be responsible and advance a discourse of tolerance in this difficult hour,\u201d Ra\u2019am added.<\/p>\n

Joint List chief Ayman Odeh said he was shocked by the stabbing attack, which he deemed a \u201cmurderous incident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is not our way and we must condemn it with all our might,\u201d Odeh wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n

storty by :emmanul fabia & aaron boxermann<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Israelis were killed and several others wounded Tuesday in a ramming and stabbing attack at an outdoor shopping mall in Beersheba in Israel\u2019s deadliest terror attack in years, officials said. According to police, the assailant first stabbed a woman to death at a gas station in the southern city. He then entered his car […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":18499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[461,12],"tags":[5144,8299,7024,5569,2226,5304,7953,11394,7358,5719,13175,1279,11555,9331,6848,4024,11284,6083,7234,5241,7583,6738,6159,5491,2264,9807,7424,5930,6825,12957,13157,3095,6057,9515,10454,10864,10742,5572,5568,6821,421,12103,8306,5655,9761,11259,5618,6265,3349,3094,11089,9151,7609,5594,9178,5350,9539,8033,5570,3954,5273,594],"class_list":["post-18498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-world-news","tag-accident","tag-animal","tag-animals","tag-arab","tag-arthur","tag-attack","tag-attacker","tag-attacks","tag-bank","tag-bus","tag-car","tag-circle","tag-citizens","tag-city","tag-civilians","tag-common","tag-convict","tag-dead","tag-death","tag-died","tag-driver","tag-families","tag-fire","tag-gas","tag-government","tag-gun","tag-gunshot","tag-hamas","tag-hospital","tag-idf","tag-islamic","tag-israel","tag-jerusalem","tag-killed","tag-killing","tag-knife","tag-market","tag-military","tag-palestinian","tag-palestinians","tag-police","tag-price","tag-prison","tag-security","tag-shoot","tag-shot","tag-soldiers","tag-stabbing","tag-syria","tag-tel-aviv","tag-terror","tag-terrorism","tag-terrorist","tag-traffic","tag-troops","tag-twitter","tag-victims","tag-video","tag-west-bank","tag-will","tag-woman","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}