A Palestinian man broke into an Israeli home in the West Bank and stabbed a 13-year-old girl to death in her bed as she slept early Thursday morning.
Hallel Yaffa Ariel was killed by a Palestinian assailant who jumped the security fence around the settlement of Kiryat Arba, according to initial reports. When security officials investigated the security breach, they heard screams coming from a nearby home and went to investigate. Security forces found the injured girl, but when one of the guards attempted to provide first aid, he was assaulted and stabbed by the attacker multiple times. The girl’s father and other security guards shot and killed the attacker, identified by Palestinian officials as 17-year-old Muhammad Nasser Tarayrah. The injured guard was also reportedly shot when the security forces killed the assailant.
Medics performed CPR on Ariel but were unable to revive her. She has since been identified as a U.S. citizen.
The guard was transferred to a hospital where officials said he was out of life-threatening danger.
The incident came days after an adviser to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview, “every place you find an Israeli, slit his throat.”
Facebook posts of Tarayrah showed that he had a death wish and wished for “martyrdom” after a friend of his was killed in March while attempting to run over a group of soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement calling on Palestinian leadership to condemn the attack.
The horrifying murder of a young girl in her bed underscores the bloodlust and inhumanity of the incitement-driven terrorists that we are facing. …
The entire world needs to condemn this murder just as it condemned the terrorist attacks in Orlando and Brussels.
I expect the Palestinian leadership to clearly and unequivocally condemn this vicious murder and take immediate action to stop the incitement.
Enlightened nations must join in this demand. They must pressure the one who heads the network of incitement that leads to the murder of children in their beds and not the State of Israel, which is working to protect its children and its citizens.
Outlets affiliated with the Palestinian Authority and its dominant Fatah party have since granted Tarayrah the honorary title of “shahid,” or martyr.
[Photo: IDF Blog ]