Third suspect nabbed in deadly supermarket stabbing
Alleged accomplice thought to be Ramallah resident seen being turned away from Rami Levy before Tuvia Yanai Weissman was attacked
Israeli security forces said Sunday they had arrested a third suspect in the stabbing attack at a West Bank supermarket that killed an Israeli man Thursday.
Omar Rimawi and Ihad Sabah, both 14, from Beitunia near Ramallah, were identified as the two attackers who stabbed Tuvia Yanai Weissman, 21, and another man at the Rami Levy supermarket in the Sha’ar Binyamin Industrial Zone, southeast of Ramallah.
They were shot by an armed civilian who rushed to the scene after hearing screaming. Sabah died of his wounds. Rimawi remains hospitalized.
Weissman, a dual Israeli-US citizen and resident of the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Mikhmas, was stabbed and critically injured while shopping with his wife, Yael, and 4-month-old daughter, Neta. He later died of his wounds in the hospital.
A second victim, identified as a 35-year-old man, sustained moderate injuries, but has been released from the hospital.
Israeli police released photographs Thursday from the supermarket showing blood splattered on the floor of an aisle stocked with laundry detergent.
Security footage from the attack showed that three Palestinians sought to enter the supermarket. A security guard turned one away, but allowed the other two in without a physical check. The third suspect is believed to be the one seen being turned away.
The suspect was identified by authorities only as a Ramallah resident.
Thursday’s attack was the second to occur in a Rami Levy supermarket in recent years. In 2014, two Israelis were moderately injured in an attack at a branch of the discount chain in Mishor Adumim, an industrial zone east of Jerusalem.
Since October 1, 2015, some 30 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in knife, gun and car-ramming attacks. More than 160 Palestinians have been killed, some 115 of them while carrying out attacks, and others during clashes and demonstrations.
