JERUSALEM (JTA) – An Israeli civilian guard stabbed by a Palestinian assailant in Jerusalem has died of his wounds.
Adiel Kolman, 32, a father of four from the West Bank settlement of Kochav Hashachar, succumbed to his injuries on Sunday night in the hospital. He was a civilian security guard but was unarmed and not on the job when he was stabbed several times in his upper body that afternoon in the Old City.
Kolman had worked in the archaeological digs at the City of David for the past five years, according to The Times of Israel.
The stabber, who was first identified as a Turkish national visiting Israel, was later identified as Abd al-Rahman Bani Fadel, 28, a Palestinian man from a northern West Bank village near Nablus. He was shot and killed at the scene by an Israel Police officer.
Fadel had entered Jerusalem using a five-day permit that allowed him to look for work, according to the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet. The father of two, his brother and uncle are part of Hamas’ leadership in the West Bank, Haaretz reported. He was not active in Hamas, however, according to the newspaper.
Hamas praised the attack, saying it was an action to mark 100 days since the Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced it would move the U.S. Embassy there. Palestinian groups, including Hamas, had designated Friday as a Day of Rage to protest the announcement.
Parts of the Old City were closed down after the attack.
“Four more children lost their father last night. For the bereaved the pain is unbearable,” Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, said in a statement. He called the attack “brutal and abhorrent.”
The attack comes two days after two Israeli soldiers were killed and two left in serious condition in a Palestinian car-ramming attack in the West Bank.
