Assailant stabs Jewish boy, 11, in Ramle attack

Police investigating motive; Arab woman with knife arrested in Old City

By DANIEL K. EISENBUD, JPOST.COM STAFF
Paramedics at the scene of a stabbing in Ramle, (photo credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)
Paramedics at the scene of a stabbing in Ramle,
(photo credit: UNITED HATZALAH‏)
An 11-year-old Jewish boy was stabbed and moderately wounded in the city of Ramle on Monday afternoon.
The attack was allegedly carried out by a 17-year-old Arab who was arrested after fleeing the scene.
While details of what precipitated the stabbing remain unclear, police said the boy was approached by the unidentified suspect while walking home.
The teenager asked the boy for a lighter, and when he responded that he did not have one, stabbed him in the back with scissors and fled toward the neighboring Arab town of Jawaresh.
The boy, who remained conscious and described the assailant to the police, was treated by United Hatzalah paramedics and rushed to an area hospital in moderate condition, police said.
Officers promptly set up roadblocks in the area to search for the suspect, who was apprehended minutes later, police said.
“The investigation is continuing to see what led to the attack,” said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
“Police are currently looking into all possible directions to determine if it was criminal or nationalistically motivated.”
The assault follows a Thursday stabbing of a security guard at the Ramle Central Bus Station carried out by two 13-year-old Arab-Israeli girls, in what police say was a foiled terrorist attack. Both girls, residents of Ramle, were arrested at the scene and subsequently remanded for five days by a judge at Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court. The security guard was treated for light wounds.
Meanwhile, later on Monday at approximately 5 p.m., Border Police patrolling the Old City’s Damascus Gate spotted a suspicious-looking 42-year-old Arab woman walking in an area where numerous deadly stabbings have recently been carried out.
Upon questioning her, police discovered a large knife hidden in her bag and placed her under arrest, Rosenfeld said, adding that she intended to carry out an attack. No injuries were reported, and the woman is expected to be arraigned at Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.
“Police are investigating who she is and where she came from,” he said shortly after her arrest.
“Units continue to patrol sensitive areas in and around the Old City to prevent further terrorist attacks from taking place.”