“The heart is torn and is in pain as innocent souls pay the bloody price of hostility and hatred,” President Isaac Herzog mourned the victims.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
An Islamist terrorist, a Bedouin with Israeli citizenship, stabbed and murdered four Israelis, two women and two men, in the city of Beersheba on Tuesday evening, the deadliest attack the country has experienced since 2017.
The victims were Doris Yahavas, 49, a mother of three children from Moshav Gilat in the Merhavim Regional Council in the south. Her husband, who was passing in the area, discovered at the site of the attack that she had died.
Rabbi Moshe Kravitzki, a father of four, was killed when the terrorist ran him over while he was riding his bicycle. Rabbi Kravitzki, a Chabad emissary to the city, was involved in welfare projects and ran a soup kitchen in the city for about a decade.
Rabbi Shalom Duchman, Director of Colel Chabad, eulogized Rabbi Kravitzki and described him as “the gentlest of souls whose entire life was about caring for others. Each and every day he would manage Colel Chabad’s local food distribution service for the needy in Beersheba, distributing thousands of meals over the years, going above and beyond to serve the hardest hit in his community during Covid.”
“This horrific loss of life has robbed the people of Israel of one of its kindest and most compassionate souls and our prayer is that the memory of the tremendous work that Rav Moshe did in his life will offer some comfort to his family and the entire community,” he added.
Laura Yitzhak, a mother of three girls aged 14, 12, and 6, was 43 years old when she was stabbed multiple times at a gas station. Security camera footage of the attack shows she fought the terrorist long and fiercely before succumbing to her multiple injuries.
The fourth victim, Menachem Yehezkel Manuchin, was a resident of Beersheba, 67 years old. He was survived by four brothers.
Another two women who were injured in the attack are hospitalized in the Department of Cardiopulmonary Surgery in moderate and stable condition, Soroka Hospital said Wednesday.
Israel will accompany the four on Wednesday in their funerals at several locations in the country.
The terrorist, Muhammad Abu Alqian, who had previously been imprisoned for his support of the Islamic State (ISIS) terror organization, killed and wounded for eight minutes before being stooped and shot dead by two citizens.
President Isaac Herzog stated after the attack that “the heart is torn and is in pain as innocent souls pay the bloody price of hostility and hatred. Terrorism will not overwhelm us or undermine our right to exist in our country.”
“The civilians who neutralized the terrorist acted heroically and resourcefully and prevented further casualties. Praying for the safety and health of the wounded,” he stated.