| 2022 Beersheba attack | |
|---|---|
  The attack site | |
| Location | Beersheba, Israel |
| Coordinates | 31°14′43″N34°48′41″E / 31.24528°N 34.81139°E |
| Date | March 22, 2022 16:10 – 16:18 |
Attack type | Vehicle-ramming attack, mass stabbing |
| Deaths | 4 civilians (+1 assailant) |
| Injured | 2 civilians |
| Assailant | Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan |
| Defender | Arthur Chaimov |
On March 22, 2022, four people were killed and two more were injured during a stabbing and vehicle-ramming attack by an Islamic State supporter in Beersheba, Israel.
In early 2022, a string of clashes between Israeli security forces and Palestinians occurred, but mostly confined to the West Bank and Jerusalem, [1] and not the Southern District in which Beersheba is located. [2] The incident was the third such attack in a week. [3]
Israeli and American authorities had expressed concern about the rise of attacks, which they noted could increase as the Muslim holiday of Ramadan would approach. [4] [5]
The attack began at around 16:10 pm [6] when Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan drove over to a gas station in Derech Hevron street where he stabbed and killed a female employee. [7] He then drove his car over to the BIG shopping center [8] where he ran over a Chabad rabbi on his bicycle, [9] killing him. [10] [6]
Kiyan then went to another neighbouring shopping mall. [6] After stabbing a 47-year-old woman to death in the clothing section, he ran towards a roundabout where he killed a 67-year-old man. [7] He was then approached by bus driver Arthur Chaimov, who initially thought a car crash had occurred but on closer inspection realized Kiyan had a knife. Chaimov told Kiyan to put his knife down and surrender, which the attacker refused to do. Kiyan lunged forward and tried to stab the driver, who took out a gun and shot him dead. [11] Another man was also seen shooting at Kiyan, but his identity could not be discovered by police. [12] Police arrived four minutes later. [13]
Kiyan's rampage lasted for an estimated eight minutes, [14] and was the deadliest attack of its kind in Israel since the 2017 Jerusalem truck attack. [15]
Mohammed Abu al-Kiyan was a Hura-born member of Israel's Negev Bedouin community. A former school teacher, he had been arrested and imprisoned previously between 2016 and 2020, [3] after he was reported to have taught schoolchildren to support the Islamic State and spread pro-ISIL propaganda. [16] At one point Kiyan said that he wished to join the ISIL movement in Syria. [17]
In 2016, Kiyan was sentenced to prison for promoting ISIL. He later apologized for his actions, and was released in 2019. [12]
A relative told Kan 11 that Kiyan's family was "mentally stable" and that they were shocked by the killings. [18]
Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine both praised the incident, with the former saying that the "battle against the occupation continues and we will not stop." [17] On March 23, the Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah congratulated Kiyan, whose actions were praised as "a true expression of the spirit of jihad and authentic resistance by the Palestinian people." [19] ISIL did not make a statement. [20]
The attack was condemned by many Israeli politicians, including Naftali Bennett, Ayelet Shaked, Yair Lapid, Isaac Herzog, [21] and the Ra'am party. [3] [17] Yaakov Shabtai said that the police were concerned that possible copycat incidents could occur in the future. [14]
United Nations representative Tor Wennesland said that "there is no justification for violence or terrorism. There is nothing heroic in the killing of civilians and there is no excuse for praising such acts." [22] American ambassador to Israel Thomas R. Nides called it a "despicable terrorist attack". [23] In addition, the attack also received condemnations from Ukrainian ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk, [24] the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, [25] and Russian president Vladimir Putin. [26]
Kiyan's home in Hura was reportedly subject to a search by the Shin Bet, [13] and Palestinian media outlets reported that many roads in the town were temporarily blocked during the operation. [27] Kiyan's brothers were arrested after suspicions rose that they had given him the knife used in the attack. [28] Channel 12 said that 20 people had been arrested during a police investigation. [5]
The following day, the Cabinet of Israel approved a plan to build 10 new towns in the Negev in response, including the previously proposed Haredi city of Kasif, Israel. [29]
Police minister Omer Bar-Lev caused an uproar when he promised to jail the dead Kiyan at the funeral of a victim. [30] [31] Bar-Lev later publicly apologized for his statement, saying that he was not told he would have to make a speech and had to make up one on the spot. [32]
On March 24, a price tag attack occurred in the Palestinian village of Zeita Jamma'in, with unknown vandals spraying the words "Jews will not be silent when we are murdered" on a mosque. Police said they were investigating the incident as well as an unconfirmed reports of an unsuccessful attempt to set arson to the building. [33] [34]
Two days after the attack, Ministry of Public Security data revealed that the number of applications for a firearms license had risen to 244, in contrast to the normal number of 60. [35]
Former Israeli Prime Minister and opposition figure Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the government's response to the attack, saying that Israeli authorities were afraid to discuss the issue of rising terrorism among Arab-Israelis as it could break down the government's coalition with the United Arab List. [36] [37]
On March 27, two gunmen killed two officers and wounded twelve others in Hadera before they were killed. [38] [39]
On August 18, 2011, a series of cross-border attacks with parallel attacks and mutual cover was carried out in southern Israel on Highway 12 near the Egyptian border by a squad of presumably twelve militants in four groups. The attacks occurred after Israel's interior security service Shin Bet had warned of an attack by militants in the region and Israeli troops had been stationed in the area. The militants first opened fire at an Egged No. 392 bus as it was traveling on Highway 12 in the Negev near Eilat. Several minutes later, a bomb was detonated next to an Israeli army patrol along Israel's border with Egypt. In a third attack, an anti-tank missile hit a private vehicle, killing four civilians. Eight Israelis – six civilians, one Yamam special unit police sniper and one Golani Brigade soldier—were killed in the multiple-stage attack. The Israel Defense Forces reported eight attackers killed, and Egyptian security forces reported killing another two.
The 2011 Tel Aviv nightclub attack was a combined vehicular assault and stabbing attack which occurred on 29 August 2011 when a Palestinian attacker stole an Israeli taxi cab and rammed it into a police checkpoint guarding the popular nightclub, Haoman 17, in Tel Aviv which was filled with 2,000 Israeli teenagers. After crashing into the checkpoint, the attacker jumped out of the vehicle and began stabbing people. Four civilians, four police officers, and the assailant were injured in the attack. The assailant was living illegally in Israel at the time of the attack.
Operation Returning Echo was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military operation in the Gaza Strip from March 9 until March 14, 2012. It was the worst outbreak of violence covered by the media in the region since the 2008–2009 Gaza War.
The 2014 Alon Shvut stabbing attack occurred on 10 November 2014, when Palestinian Maher al-Hashlamun first attempted to run his vehicle into a crowd waiting at the bus/hitch-hiking station at the entrance to the Israeli settlement of Alon Shvut, in the Gush Etzion section of the occupied West Bank, then, when the car was stopped by a bollard, got out and attacked with a knife, killing a young woman and wounding two others. The attack occurred four hours after the killing of Sergeant Almog Shiloni in Tel Aviv and took place at the same bus/hitch-hiking stop where three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and murdered in June 2014.
Sergeant Almog Shiloni of the Israel Defense Forces was killed on 10 November 2014 after he was stabbed multiple times at Tel Aviv HaHagana Railway Station. He died in hospital from his wounds. Shiloni was off-duty, but in uniform and armed at the time.
During the morning rush hour of 21 January 2015, a Palestinian man from Tulkarm, West Bank boarded a bus in Tel Aviv and stabbed multiple people in a terrorist attack. After the bus he boarded had driven about 400 meters, the Palestinian attacked the driver, who fought back, before turning to other passengers and attacking them. The bus stopped, with the passengers fleeing, and the Palestinian attacked others too. Israeli police shot the terrorist in the foot and arrested him.
On 3 October 2015, a Palestinian resident of al-Bireh attacked the Benita family near the Lions' Gate in Jerusalem, as they were on their way to the Western Wall to pray. The attacker murdered Aaron Benita, the father of the family, and injured the mother Adele and their 2-year-old son Matan. Nehemia Lavi, a resident who heard screams and came to help was also murdered and his gun taken by the assailant. The attacker, 19 year old Muhanad Shafeq Halabi was shot and killed by police as he was firing on pedestrians.
An increase of violence occurred in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict starting in the autumn of 2015 and lasting into the first half of 2016. It was called the "Intifada of the Individuals" by Israeli sources, the Knife Intifada, Stabbing Intifada or Jerusalem Intifada by international sources because of the many stabbings in Jerusalem, or Habba by Palestinian sources. 38 Israelis and 235 Palestinians were killed in the violence. 558 Israelis and thousands of Palestinians were injured.
On 18 October 2015, a gunman shot and killed 19-year-old Israeli soldier Omri Levy in a bus station in Beersheba. After killing the soldier, he took his automatic rifle and fired into a crowd. When more security officers appeared, the gunman fled, but was killed by security personnel.
On 8 March 2016, a 21-year-old Palestinian man from Qalqilya killed an American tourist and wounded ten civilians in a stabbing spree in Jaffa Port, Tel Aviv, Israel. The attacker was shot dead by the police after a chase along the beach promenade.
The 2017 Jerusalem Light Rail stabbing was a stabbing attack and suspected act of terrorism that occurred on Good Friday, 14 April 2017, on Jerusalem Light Rail's car. In the attack, a 20 year old British student was stabbed to death by Jamil Tamimi, a Palestinian man. Two others, including a pregnant woman, were injured in the incident. The attacker was arrested and was deemed competent to stand trial.
On 16 June 2017, two Palestinian men opened fire on Israeli police officers in the Old City of Jerusalem, injuring four of them. An additional attacker stabbed a policewoman, she was critically injured, and later died in hospital. All three attackers were shot and killed by the Israeli authorities.
On 14 July 2017, three Arab-Israeli men left the Temple Mount, and opened fire on Israeli border police officers stationed near the Gate of the Tribes which is close to the Lions' Gate. Two Israeli border police officers were killed and two more were injured in the attack. All three attackers were shot and killed by Israeli police after fleeing back into the complex.
The Halamish attack, or the Halamish massacre was a terrorist attack on a Jewish family in the West Bank Israeli settlement of Halamish, that took place on 21 July 2017, in which three Israelis were stabbed to death and one severely wounded. The victims of the attack were Yosef Salomon, his daughter Chaya and son Elad, the three who were murdered in the attack, and Tova Salomon, Yosef's wife, who was injured but survived.
The 2017 Temple Mount crisis was a period of violent tensions related to the Temple Mount, which began on 14 July 2017, after a shooting incident in the complex in which Palestinian gunmen killed two Israeli police officers. Following the attack, Israeli authorities installed metal detectors at the entrance to the Mount in a step that caused large Palestinian protests and was severely criticized by Palestinian leaders, the Arab League, and other Muslim leaders, on the basis that it constituted a change in the "status quo" of the Temple Mount entry restrictions.
On 27 March 2022, two Islamic State gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in Hadera, Israel, killing two people and injuring twelve.
On 29 March 2022, a series of shootings took place in Bnei Brak, Israel. Diaa Hamarsheh, a 26-year-old Palestinian from Ya'bad, killed five people.
On 15 November 2022, a Palestinian killed three Israelis near the Ariel settlement in the West Bank.
