Soldier who shot Tel Aviv terrorist: I did what is expected of IDF fighters

An Israel Air Force officer hailed as a hero said he was simply “in the right place at the right time” when he shot dead a Palestinian terrorist who wounded five people in Tel Aviv on Thursday.

For security reasons, the Air Force second lieutenant has his face hidden and is identified only by his first name of Daniel in a short video interview released by the IDF. He said he was only doing his duty when he brought down the 19-year-old Palestinian from Jerusalem, who had stabbed a female IDF soldier in the head with a screwdriver.

The terrorist ran off after the soldier stopped him from snatching her weapon on Menachem Begin Road, close to the Defense Ministry and IDF’s Kirya complex. He went on to stab another four people before he was stopped. All five victims suffered light wounds.

Daniel, who recently received the rank of officer in an anti-aircraft unit, explained that he was driving with fellow officers to a work meeting at the Kirya.

“I saw the terrorist attack the soldier,” he recalled. “I understood that it was a stabbing attack because of the recent events here in Israel. I got out of the car, ran toward him, and neutralized him from a short range.”

Eye witnesses said Daniel fired four or five shots at the attacker, killing him on the spot.

“I was in the right place at the right time. I did what is expected from every fighter in the Air Force, and in the IDF in general,” he said.

Magen David Adom paramedics said that a woman in her 60s, a man and a woman in their 40s, and the soldier in her 20s were taken by ambulance to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv with upper body wounds. The fifth victim made his own way to the hospital. Two of the victims were later released from the hospital.

Less than an hour later, an Israeli man was seriously injured when a Palestinian stabbed him in the back in the West Bank city of Hebron. The assailant made his escape and security forces began searching for him.

Hours earlier, a Jerusalem yeshiva student, 25, was seriously wounded in a stabbing attack in northern Jerusalem. A second Israeli, apparently a light rail security guard, was very lightly injured when wrestling with the attacker in an attempt to prevent him from fleeing the scene.

Wednesday saw at least six major terror attacks nationwide amid an escalating wave of violence.