Girls say assault was ‘revenge for the situation in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,’ and in protest of Israel’s ‘killing of Palestinians’
The Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s court on Thursday ruled the two 13-year-old Israeli Arab girls who stabbed and lightly wounded a security guard earlier in the day will remain in custody for another five days.
The teens told police the attack was “revenge for the situation in the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” and was in protest of Israel’s “killing of Palestinians.”
The two suspects, from Ramle’s mixed Arab-Jewish Jawarish neighborhood, were arrested with the knives in their possession. One was carrying a school backpack, a police spokesperson noted.
The stabbing took place at the central bus station in the center of the working-class city outside Tel Aviv. The building also houses a mall and government offices.
An initial police investigation found that the two girls approached the bus station’s entrance, where the guard asked them to identify themselves. They pulled kitchen knives out of their clothing and stabbed him in the leg and hand.
A soldier and an armed civilian quickly subdued the two. They were detained and taken to Ramle Police headquarters for questioning.
Magen David Adom rescue service medics treated the victim, and he was taken to the nearby Assaf Harofe Hospital with light injuries.
The stabbing was the latest in a series of attacks that have roiled the country over the last several months.
A day earlier, three Palestinians opened fire on a group of policemen near Jerusalem’s Old City, killing Hadar Cohen, 19, and seriously wounding another policewoman.
A large number of the attacks have been carried out by minors. Last month, a 13-year-old girl was shot and killed while trying to stab a guard in the West Bank settlement of Anatot outside of Jerusalem.
As reported by The Times of Israel