A 17-year-old boy from Shlomi in the Western Galilee was stabbed to death Monday night in his hometown. Magen David Adom (MDA) teams found him without any signs of life and declared his death on the spot. The police opened an investigation into the circumstances of the incident and arrested a 15-year-old boy from the same settlement on suspicion of committing the murder.
The 15-year-old was arrested at his family's home, a few dozen meters from the murder scene. The background to the incident is apparently a fight over a girl. The investigation was transferred to the department for the fight against crime in the Asher region.
During his interrogation, the boy claimed that he had been summoned for clarification by the murdered boy and claimed in his face that he had approached the girl. He linked himself to the incident and claimed that he was attacked first and that the second boy tried to stab him in the neck. His defense attorney, Moti Levy, said he was arguing for self-defense: "Things will become clear during the police and court investigation."
The stabbing incident took place around 3 a.m. in the Natan Elbaz residential neighborhood. According to children in the locality, the two boys were friendly to each other, but there were sometimes conflicts between them.
"It's over nothing, the nonsense of children," boys from the neighborhood who gathered in shock near the site told Walla! "We loved him, he was a good boy, a boy who was always happy, never got into trouble. We never saw him in violent situations," they said of the murdered boy, who had just graduated. "He loved to ride horses – participated in competitions."
The 15-year-old boy who was arrested is said to be living with his father near the scene of the stabbing. "He ended a child's life, ended his life, and ended two families. Unfortunate people," he said. "We did not hear anything, we only woke up when the police arrived."
"Getting up like this in the morning is a huge shock and extremely sad. It is a great tragedy for the entire community of Shlomi," said Gabi Naaman, head of the local council. "I spoke immediately this morning with the murdered teen's mother and the Nahariya Police Department commander who updated me. I called the welfare department and we will help in any way we can.
"We will have to deal with a major crisis in the community," he said. "There has been nothing like this in the seven decades the community has existed. We will learn what there is to fix and do what is needed."
According to the message received by the police, the boy, who had no criminal record, was found lying on the street. Upon receiving the report, the police opened an investigation, in which they began searching for suspects and collecting evidence at the scene.
"The wounded man was lying on the sidewalk unconscious and suffering from stab wounds to his body," said MDA paramedic Eliana Agassi. "We performed medical tests, but he was without signs of life and we had no choice but to determine his death."