Itongadol.- The suspect, named by the ISA as Nidal Yusef Yunes Jabarin, aged 24, allegedly stabbed and lightly wounded a woman in the city on October 29th, after “he had been influenced by videos of stabbing attacks which have been published recently,” the Shin Bet said in a statement on Thursday.
Jabarin, had been living in recent years in Eilat, the Shin Bet added. He was not known to security forces prior to the incident.
The stabbing on October 29th took place across from a grocery store on Golani Brigade Street in the city. Police at the time said a man had stabbed and lightly wounded a local woman with a small paring knife before fleeing on foot.
Hours later Jabarin was arrested not far from the scene of the crime after dozens of detectives, Border Police officers, and IDF Special Forces soldiers fanned out across the small southern Israel city.
Police announced the arrest at the time, but said that same night that they were unable to determine for certain if the stabbing was criminal or nationalist. The Southern District Police secured a gag order on the case that same night, and no further details were published until Thursday.
Southern District police said in their statement on Thursday that Jabarin has confessed to the crime and that in the coming days they expect him to be indicted for the attack.