A man who was mortally wounded in the stabbing attack Wednesday in Hadera has died of his ijhuries. The death of the man, a 35-year-old father of 6 children, was determined Thursday at the city's Hillel Yaffe hospital, after doctors fought for his life for a day. In the stabbing spree carried out by an Arab-Israeli terrorist from Umm al-Fahm, five more people were injured, including one who is in a serious and stable condition, and others who are moderately and slightly injured.
The victim was identified as Raphael Mordechai Fischhof, affiliated with the Knesset Yitzhak yeshiva in the city. "The city of Hadera is in pain and shares in the heavy mourning," Mayor Nir Ben Haim said in a statement. Fischhoff's family thanked the medical staff at the hospital for their dedicated care and support.
According to the police, the terrorist stabbed the six wounded in four different places. He began his stabbing spree on Gitit Street, from there he continued to Botkovsky Street, and then stabbed people on Herzl Street. He was neutralized on Herbert Samuel Street, which is considered a central street in Hadera. At first it was civilians with drawn weapons who, according to footage from the scene, subdued him and tried to arrest him, ordering him to lie on the ground. The assailant, who was wearing a helmet, tried to escape. Municipality security guard, Adi Netaf, shot him in the leg.
Terrorist neutralized in Hadera
In additional documentation from the moments that the assailant was neutralized, citizens can be seen pushing the terrorist into an alley in the street, while one of them throws chairs at him, and others who join the scene with drawn-out cheers call on him to lie down on the ground. Police forces that arrived at the scene immediately afterward prevented citizens at the scene from hitting the terrorist.
We rushed from site to site," said local security officer Adi Nataf. "At first, we thought there were two terrorists and then we heard a call to come to Herbert Samuel Street. I saw him wounded and then he stood up, with a coat on, we shouted 'lie down' so that he would not shoot at us, and a reservist fired two shots in the air. I shouted 'lie down' again and shot him in the leg."
Later, police forces also arrived at the scene. An ax and a knife handle were found near the terrorist. In field scans, the blade of the knife was found covered in blood. Police commissioner, Senior Superintendent Danny Levy, arrived at the scene as well. In a statement from the scene he said that "I want to make it clear that the Israel Police is stretched from end to end, we are handling all the scenes of rocket falls in the entire State of Israel after the barrage on Haifa and the Krayot at the same time as the attack. My heart goes out to the wounded, but apparently this is what we are destined for in this period. We, the police deployed in all the arenas, will also be there to prevent these incidents. The public's sense of security is the most important thing today."
Fearing the presence of additional terrorists, the entrances and exits to the city were blocked Wednesday and Mayor Nir Ben Haim also ordered students not to be released from the schools and kindergartens. The security forces in the city joined the police searches in order close the incident and to allow a return to routine. After some time the restrictions were removed.
Sarit Levy, a resident of the city who was near one of the scenes at the time of the attack, told Ynet Wednesday that "it was scary. I was at the entrance to a stairwell in front of Gitit Street and then people shouted 'attack, attack, stab here.' Suddenly someone ran away quickly, I went up quickly and then I heard. There were other scenes later."
Even before the terrorist was neutralized, he exploded in the city. The owner, E., noticed a "strange man", as he put it. "He came in in a panic. He took a bottle of water and then I saw that he had blood and I asked him, 'What's going on?' He said to me 'Do you want me to kill you?' - Then I saw that he was trying to mess with something in his shirt, then I sprayed him with pepper spray and threw a chair at him. I miraculously survived, I realized that he was strange and then it turned out that he was the terrorist."
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