At least four people have been killed and multiple others have been injured in a stabbing attack in the Israeli city of Be'er Sheva.
According to Magen David Adom: “MDA EMTs and paramedics are currently treating a number of injured with varying degrees of injuries, including serious injuries.”
A middle-aged woman was pronounced dead on the scene of the attack, which occurred in late afternoon in the southern Israeli city.
The scene of a car ramming and stabbing attack outside a shopping center in Be'er Sheva, southern Israel, on March 22, 2022. (Photo by Flash90)
According to Israeli police, the attacker stabbed a woman at a petrol station before hitting a cyclist with his car. He's then believed to have got out and stabbed a man and a woman before being shot by a passerby.
The attacker was shot by a passerby as he brandished a knife at pedestrians
WARNING: THE FOLLOWING FOOTAGE IS GRAPHIC
EXTREMELY GRAPHIC: Israeli citizens shoot down terrorist stabber in Beer Sheva pic.twitter.com/KxQoLlryUg
— Yishai Fleisher يشاي ישי פליישר 🕎 (@YishaiFleisher) March 22, 2022
According to the times of Israel, the perpetrator of the attack was named as Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, who's believed to be a former terror convict from a Bedouin village in the Negev desert
Israel's intelligence service, the Shin Bet said it was investigating the attack.
הלב נקרע וכואב כשנפשות תמימות משלמות את מחיר הדמים של האיבה והשנאה. הטרור לא יכריע אותנו ולא יערער את זכותנו להתקיים בארצנו.
— יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) March 22, 2022
יחד עם העם בישראל אני שולח תנחומים למשפחות האבלות. אני סמוך ובטוח כי גורמי הביטחון יפעלו באופן נחוש וכי האחראים יתנו את הדין.
The President of Israel Isaac Herzog tweeted a message of condolence and appeared to confirm the incident was a terror attack saying: "Terrorism will not overwhelm us or undermine our right to exist in our country.
"Together with the people of Israel, I send condolences to the families of the mourners. I am confident that the security forces will act decisively."
Kann News reported that the attack was a Bedouin Israeli citizen from a nearby village. No terrorist groups claimed responsibility for the attack, but both Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the slain attacker.
A Hamas spokesperson told official Hamas radio the group “salutes the executor of the heroic operation in occupied Be'er Sheva occupation’s crimes shall be met with heroic operations: stabbings, rammings and shootings."