Itongadol.- An 11-year-old Jewish boy was stabbed and moderately wounded in the city of Ramle, located in Central Israel, on Monday afternoon.
Police arrested a 17-year-old Arab suspect shortly after he fled the scene.
While details of what precipitated the stabbing remain unclear, police said the boy was approached by the unidentified suspect while walking home.
The assailant then asked him for a lighter, and when the boy responded that he did not have one, the teenager stabbed him in the back with scissors and fled toward the neighboring Arab village of Jawaresh.
The boy, who remained conscious and described the assailant to police, was treated by United Hatzalah paramedics and rushed to an area hospital in moderate condition, police said.
Officers promptly set up roadblocks in the area to search for the suspect, who was apprehended minutes later, police said.
“The investigation is continuing to see what led to the attack,” said Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. “Police are currently looking into all possible directions to determine if it was criminal or nationalistically motivated.”
The assault follows a Thursday stabbing of a security guard at the Ramle Central Bus Station carried out by two 13-year-old Arab-Israeli girls, in what police say was a foiled terrorist attack.
Both girls, residents of Ramle, were arrested at the scene and subsequently remanded for five days by a judge at Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court. The security guard was treated for light wounds.
Meanwhile, later on Monday at approximately 5 p.m., Border Police patrolling the Old City’s Damascus Gate spotted a suspicious-looking 42-year-old Arab woman walking in an area where numerous deadly stabbings have recently been carried out.
After questioning her, police found a large knife hidden in her bag and placed her under arrest, Rosenfeld said, adding that she intended to carry out an attack. No injuries were reported, and the woman is expected to be arraigned at Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court.
“Police are investigating who she is and where she came,” he said shortly after her arrest. “Units are continuing to patrol sensitive areas in and around the Old City to prevent further terrorist attacks from taking place.”
The unidentified woman’s arrest comes five days after three terrorists were killed by police outside Damascus Gate after stabbing and shooting two female Border Police officers who attempted to stop them from carrying out an attack using pipe bombs, submachine guns and knives.
Cpl. Hadar Cohen, 19, died of her wounds, while the other officer remains hospitalized with serious injuries. Both officers were hailed as heroes for preventing what could have been a large-scale attack.