Two young Arab teenage girls armed with knives attacked an Israeli security guard at the metal detector at the Ramle central bus station Thursday morning.
The attack in Ramle was similar in style to that carried out Wednesday in Jerusalem. The two girls, both age 13, waited for the guard to request identification, and then drew kitchen knives from their school backpacks and stabbed him in the leg and arm.
The guard remained conscious throughout the incident, according to senior Magen David Adom paramedic Shlomo Elkasalsi, who was first to arrive on the scene. Elkasalsi was walking around the mall when he heard the victim shouting there were terrorists. He provided initial treatment for leg and arm wounds to the guard until other medics arrived with ambulances.
Medics soon arrived to evacuate the security guard, in his 20s, from the scene to Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center in Tzrifin.
Both terrorists were neutralized by security forces, arrested and taken into custody. “We came to kill Jews,” one of the girls told investigators, making it clear their intentions were to carry out an attack of wider dimensions.
Both are residents of Ramle, a city with a mixed Jewish-Arab population. One of the terrorists is living with her family in the Jo’arish neighborhood. The second is from a nomadic Arab family that recently moved to the city.
“Heightened security continues in the area after the attack,” Israel Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said.