Eden Attias, an Israeli soldier, was stabbed to death today by a Palestinian on a bus in the northern Israeli city of Afula. The Palestinian, identified as Hussein Jawadra, 16, reportedly admitted that he carried out the attack as revenge for the imprisonment of relatives by Israel.
One relative is serving three life sentences for murdering two Israelis, while the other is serving a 12-year sentence for attempted murder, Ynet News reported. Jawarda, according to Israeli media reports, was originally from the West Bank city of Jenin, but had illegally entered Israel.
Israeli authorities currently believe that Jawarda acted alone, Channel 10 reported. “These attacks are very difficult to prevent because they are usually made by a single person and usually not planned in advance. Therefore, intelligence is very hard to get.” one official said.
Israeli authorities reportedly arrested a few of Jawarda’s relatives following today’s attack, Ma’an News Agency reported.
In recent months, a number of Israelis have been killed or severely wounded in attacks by Palestinians from the West Bank.
On Sept. 21, Israeli authorities announced that an IDF soldier had been abducted and murdered by Palestinians in the West Bank. The soldier, Tomer Hazan, of Bat Yam, was lured by a coworker, Nidal Amar, to the Bayt Amin area in the West Bank, where he was killed. Amar had hoped to use Hazan’s body to bargain for the release of one of his brothers, Nur al Adin Amar, who has been imprisoned since 2003 for involvement in terror-related activities as part of Fatah’s Tanzim group. According to the Jerusalem Post, Amar will be indicted by the IDF on Nov. 14.
On Sept. 22, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed an Israeli soldier, Sergeant Gabriel Koby, 20, in the city of Hebron. “The individual or individuals responsible for the shooting … have not yet been apprehended,” an IDF spokesperson told The Long War Journal on Oct. 11.
Almost two weeks after Koby’s killing, on Oct. 5, a nine-year-old girl in the West Bank community of Psagot was stabbed (early reports said the victim was shot at close range). Three days after the incident, Israeli authorities arrested two Palestinian relatives from Al Bireh in connection with the attack. On Oct. 11, Sariya Ofer, an IDF reserve colonel, was murdered in his home in the Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika by a group of Palestinians. On Oct. 13, it was cleared for publication that three Palestinians had been arrested in connection with Ofer’s murder.
More recently, an Israeli couple traveling near the West Bank community of Tekoa was wounded after they were targeted by a firebomb. The day before, a Palestinian was shot and killed after he attempted to stab a Border Police guard in Abu Dis near Jerusalem. In a separate incident on the same day, a Palestinian who fired a flare gun at Israelis near the West Bank community of Ariel was shot and killed.
Despite these incidents, Israeli officials consistently say the likelihood of a third intifada is low. In 2012, no Israelis were killed in terror attacks in the West Bank.
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