Palestinians to be charged for seriously injuring man in Jerusalem terror stabbing
Three teenagers from Bethlehem allegedly purchased butcher knives, set out for Gilo neighborhood ‘with the aim of murdering a Jew’
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
Three Palestinian teenagers are to be charged for carrying out a terror attack in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood last month, during which they stabbed and seriously wounded an Israeli man, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
In a joint statement, the Israel Police and the Shin Bet security agency said they had completed their investigation into the July 20 stabbing, and filed a declaration notifying the suspects and court of an indictment expected in the coming days. The trio are also to be held in custody for four more days, until August 11.
According to the police and Shin Bet investigation, the three Palestinian suspects, aged 17-19, from the West Bank city of Bethlehem, met on the day of the attack, bought three “large butcher knives” and set out toward nearby Gilo “with the aim of murdering a Jew and becoming martyrs.”
Law enforcement officials said they drove from the Palestinian town of Beit Jala toward Gilo on a dirt road, then got out and continued by foot.
When they arrived in Gilo, the suspects kept the knives concealed on their persons and searched for a Jewish victim to stab, police and the Shin Bet said.
“The terrorists met a young local resident on the street. After they addressed him and they realized that he was indeed a Jew by his answer, they brutally stabbed him several times,” the joint statement said.
The trio then fled the scene of the attack back toward Bethlehem.
One of the knives remained lodged in the back of the victim, 25-year-old Or Sayer, while another was found by security forces at the scene. The third knife remained with one of the stabbers.
אור סייר ויינר הוא הצעיר שנפצע קשה אתמול באירוע הדקירה בגילה, בו נדקר 20 פעמים בכל חלקי גופו. סטודנט לביולוגיה וכימיה בעברית שהיה בדרך לעזור לסבא וסבתא:
״זה פיגוע וודאי״, אמר קרוב משפחה, ״הוא ילד שעסוק כל חייו בללמוד במעבדה, רוצה רק להציל חיים״.
המעורבים טרם נתפסו.@WallaNews pic.twitter.com/0c3jjAxdfU
— ינון שלום יתח Inon Shalom Yttach (@Inon_Yttach) July 21, 2023
Less than two days later, the three suspects were detained by the military in Bethlehem.
An indictment against the trio, charging them with terror offenses, will be filed in the coming days, police said.
Sayar has remained hospitalized at the Shaare Zedek Medical Center since the attack. The hospital said that upon arrival, he was in very serious and unstable condition, and was taken into surgery. It later said he was stable but still in serious condition, sedated and intubated, in the intensive care ward.
The attack came as tensions between Israelis and Palestinians have been high across the region for the past year and a half, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
