Three wounded in Ra'anana stabbing attack

Security forces neutralize, apprehend attacker; one victim in serious condition, two in light condition.

By BEN HARTMAN
Updated: DECEMBER 20, 2015 05:01
Police apprehend the suspected assailant in a terror stabbing in Ra'anana, December 19, 2015 (photo credit: COURTESY YANON B&H)
Police apprehend the suspected assailant in a terror stabbing in Ra'anana, December 19, 2015
(photo credit: COURTESY YANON B&H)
Terror returned to the quiet suburban streets of Ra’anana on Saturday when a Palestinian man from the West Bank stabbed and wounded three Israelis before being apprehended by police.
The attacker, a Palestinian in his 20s from Tammun, northeast of Nablus, who police said was within the Green Line illegally, began his assault around 3:30 p.m. on Mordechai Anielewicz Street where he stabbed and wounded two Israelis – a man and woman in their 40s.
Raanana stabbing
The seriously wounded man was rushed to Meir Medical Center, Kfar Saba, where his condition stabilized. A third victim, described by Magen David Adom as a woman in her 60s, was stabbed and lightly wounded not far away.
Sharon subdistrict police said officers pursued the attacker through the streets of the residential neighborhood, and saw him toss away a knife before jumping into the courtyard of a house where he was arrested moments later.
He was taken for questioning by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police.
Police and other security services combed the area searching for a possible second attacker, but soon after determined that the Tammun man had acted alone.
Following the attack, Ra’anana Mayor Ze’ev Bielski called for residents of the city to stay in their homes, saying there was “no need for public gatherings.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Sharon subdistrict police said they had not yet confirmed a report of another stabbing.
Interviewed by reporters at Meir, Dorit Avishar described how her friend, Dikla Dvir, 46, told her she managed to overpower the attacker and push him out of her home after he broke in wielding a knife.
“I got a call from her saying, ‘Don’t leave the house, a terrorist came into my house and stabbed me.’ She said, ‘I’m fine, nothing happened, but tell your kids to come home,’” Avishar said, adding that Dvir told her the man came in through the front window and attacked her in the kitchen of her home while her 10-year-old son was upstairs.
According to Avishar, Dvir said she shrieked, grabbed the knife, and pushed the man outside the house.
Neighbors in a house on the same street said the terrorist also tried to enter their home by way of a ground floor window, but they managed to shut the window and he fled.
On October 13, terrorists carried out two stabbing attacks in the city, which is known for being quiet, safe and prosperous.
During the first attack, a man was stabbed and moderately wounded at a bus stop on the city’s main thoroughfare, Ahuza Street, before his assailant was subdued by civilians, including one who famously wielded an umbrella. Two hours later, further down the street, a man from east Jerusalem stabbed four people sitting at a café, wounding one seriously and three lightly.