Palestinian teen indicted for planning Kiryat Gat stabbing
14-year-old from West Bank caught with knife as he headed toward southern city
An indictment was filed in court Wednesday against a 14-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank accused of planning to carry out a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat.
The suspect from Dayr Samet, near Hebron, was caught on December 6 close to the security barrier by an IDF patrol in the Lachish region and was found to be carrying a knife.
During questioning he denied any wrongdoing but eventually admitted that he was planning an attack in Kiryat Gat because he wanted to injure Jews.
The indictment, filed at the Beersheba District Youth Court, charged the teen with attempted murder, having a knife meant to be used for a racist attack and illegally entering Israel.
[mappress mapid=”5471″]
Kiryat Gat, the closest large Israeli city to Hebron, has been the scene of attacks in the past.
On November 21, a 13-year-old girl was among four people moderately injured in a stabbing attack in the southern Israeli city by Palestinian Muhammad Tarada, 18, from the village of Tapuah, west of Hebron in the southern West Bank.
In October, a Palestinian man stabbed an IDF soldier in Kiryat Gat and grabbed his gun. The attacker then fled to a fourth floor apartment, where he was shot and killed by police. The soldier was lightly injured with wounds to his head, apparently inflicted with a pair of scissors. A second soldier was injured as well.
More than 20 Israelis have been killed in three months of near-daily stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming terror attacks by Palestinians targeting civilians and security forces. More than 100 Palestinians have also been killed, a large proportion of them assailants shot as they carried out attacks, including some who were teenagers. Other Palestinians have been killed during violent clashes with Israeli security forces.
AFP contributed to this report.
