US green card holder, Moroccan national, injures 4 in terror attack in Tel Aviv

Four people were injured Tuesday evening by a terrorist who went on a stabbing spree in a trendy Tel Aviv neighborhood, emergency services and Israeli police said, before being shot dead.

The assailant who carried out the attack was Moroccan national Abdelaziz Kaddi, a US green card holder, according to identification found on his body. He was shot dead on the spot.

Kaddi was flagged down by security upon his arrival in the country a few days ago, but was nevertheless allowed entry, a decision the Shin Bet said late Tuesday it was investigating.

This is the second terrorist attack in three days in the Israeli metropolis.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said four people were injured in the attack in Nahalat Binyamin. The victims included two men aged 24 and 28 in moderate condition, and two others aged 24 and 59 in good condition, MDA said.

Kaddi entered Israel on January 18 on a tourist visa.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel said immigration officials identified Kaddi as a threat upon his arrival in the country at Ben Gurion Airport and sought to deny him entry. He was handed over to security forces for questioning.

“To my great regret, they decided to allow him to enter Israel,” Arbel said in a statement. He asked Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to investigate the incident, which the security agency confirmed shortly after.

“Upon entering Israel, the subject underwent a security assessment which included interrogation and additional checks, at the end of which it was determined that there was no information to prevent his entry into Israel. Israel for security reasons,” the Shin Bet said in response to a question.

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The attacker allegedly stabbed three people before running towards an adjacent street, where he injured a fourth.

The victims were taken to the city’s Ichilov hospital.

Among various reports about who shot the attacker, the Ynet newspaper cited members of an unspecified special forces unit, apparently off duty, who said they noticed the attack in progress.

“We came down from an apartment and saw a stabbed man knocking someone to the ground. We shouted at him to stop and shot when he did not obey,” one of them told the media, without being identified.

Eyewitnesses told Hebrew media that the terrorist arrived on a motorcycle driven by another person who then left the scene.

The police combed the surrounding area in search of possible accomplices.

The attack came three days after a man in his 30s was seriously injured in another terrorist stabbing attack in Tel Aviv.

He was also taken to Ichilov Hospital, which later said his condition was stable and his life was not in danger.

The terrorist involved in the incident was identified as Salah Yahye, 19, from the West Bank town of Tulkarem.

He was in Israel illegally, according to defense sources. Doctors said he was shot at the scene.