A 70-year-old woman, Edna Blustein, was killed and at least 18 other people, including at least eight children and teens waiting at a bus stop on their way home from school, were wounded Monday afternoon in a terror attack the central Israeli city of Ra’anana.
The combined ramming and stabbing attack began with two terrorists who stole a car after stabbing the driver. The attackers rammed the vehicle into the first victims and then fled the scene, striking again in several other locations in the city, including Jerusalem, Haroshet, Weizmann and Ahuza Streets.
One of the two attackers was captured and arrested by Israeli security personnel at around 2:20 pm, nearly an hour after the start of the incident. The second terrorist was arrested shortly after. The attackers, ages 44 and 24, are residents of the Palestinian Authority village of Bani Naim, a suburb of Hebron, and were working illegally in a car wash in Ra’anana.
After stealing the first car and stabbing the driver, the terrorists then ran over pedestrians before continuing on their rampage. After he was stopped, he took over another vehicle and rammed more people. He then fled on foot and was eventually captured by a police officer.
המחבל ימ”ש שנעצר ברעננה pic.twitter.com/yMLxu767zq
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“There are around 20 injured in the combined attacks in Ra’anana, including one in critical condition and four in serious condition,” Magen David Adom (MDA) CEO Eli Bin told Israel’s Channel 12 News. “All the victims were evacuated by MDA teams to Beilinson and Meir hospitals.” The injured children and teens were taken to Schneider Children’s Hospital.
MDA Medicycle EMT Eli Raymond said: “We arrived in large numbers at the scene, and saw a number of casualties lying in varying conditions. We immediately began a primary triage, including field treatments such as stopping the bleeding, immobilisation and drug therapy. We evacuated the casualties for further treatment in different hospitals.”
Tania Kohar, deputy head of the Ra’anana branch of United Hatzalah, reported: “I arrived at the scenes of two incidents on Haroshet Street and Achuza Street in Ra’anana and together with a large number of United Hatzalah EMTs and paramedics we provided initial treatment to the injured, who were then transported to the hospital.”
A spokesperson for Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba said four victims were rushed to trauma rooms thus far in serious and moderate condition. The 70-year-old female initially listed in critical condition succumbed to her wounds shortly after. Two other victims, 34-year-old and 16-year-old males, were listed in serious condition with head and limb injuries; eight people were reported with moderate injuries and three others with minor wounds, according to an MDA spokesperson.
