Two IDF soldiers were wounded Tuesday morning when a Palestinian terrorist attempted a stabbing attack near the community of Ateret in Samaria’s Binyamin region. Israeli forces eliminated the attacker after he drew a knife and began stabbing soldiers who had been dispatched to intercept him.
The incident unfolded after a vigilant resident spotted a suspicious individual walking along the road, carrying a bag, and immediately reported it to security authorities. This quick thinking set in motion a coordinated response that prevented what could have been a far deadlier assault.
The soldiers at Ateret acted with lethal force only after the terrorist initiated his attack with a knife.
According to a preliminary IDF investigation, the regional defense system detected the suspicious individual, and troops from the Paratroopers Brigade were immediately dispatched to the location off Route 465 near the Ateret Spring. During their initial inspection of the suspect, he suddenly drew a knife and began stabbing. The soldiers responded with gunfire, neutralizing the threat. Magen David Adom teams treated the two lightly wounded soldiers at the scene.
Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and the Yesha Council, praised the coordinated response that prevented a massacre. “Thanks to the vigilance of our residents, a far more serious attack was prevented,” Ganz stated. “I want to commend the alert resident who reported the suspect, the 1208 hotline that works day and night for the residents of Binyamin, the Ateret situation room that tracked the terrorist, and the brave IDF soldiers who sought engagement and eliminated him.”
Anti-Israel bias was evident in the headline of the Washington Post article about the attack, which focused on the deaths of the Palestinians who were killed while attempting to murder Israelis. The article also referred to the terrorists as “suspected Palestinian attackers” while referring to Samaria as the “occupied West Bank”.
The WAPO article went on to write, “Israel says the offensive is aimed at rooting out militants. But Palestinians say scores of stone throwers, protesters, and uninvolved civilians have been killed.”
It went on to shift the blame for the violence:
“In recent weeks, the West Bank has experienced a surge in settler violence against Palestinian civilians.”
A report by the Regavim Movement, “False Flags and Real Agendas,” offers the first in-depth analysis of the “settler violence,” revealing that more than 98% of the incidents classified as “settler violence” were, in reality, clashes between Arabs and IDF forces in which no Israeli civilians were involved. The report also proves that many of the incident reports of “settler violence” actually were incidents in which Jewish civilians acted in self-defense.
The Ateret attack was the second terrorist incident in Judea and Samaria within hours. Overnight Monday, a female IDF soldier was injured when a terrorist rammed his vehicle into her at the Judea Junction near Hebron. The attacker initially escaped but was later located by security forces and eliminated when he attempted to flee while endangering troops.
The frequency of these attacks reveals the continuing threat facing Israelis in Samaria and Judea. Palestinian terrorists targeted Israeli Jews in these regions 6,343 times in 2024, according to Hatzalah Judea and Samaria. Twenty-seven Israelis were murdered, and more than 300 were wounded throughout the year.
Israel Hayom reported Tuesday that approximately 40 terrorists released to Judea, Samaria, or Jerusalem in recent hostage deals have been arrested or killed after returning to terrorist activity. The real number is higher, as some released terrorists remain at large. This pattern confirms what security officials have warned: prisoner releases directly endanger Israeli lives.
