One dead in Israel stabbing attack, assailant killed: first responders

HAIFA, Israel: A stabbing attack at a transport station in the Israeli city of Haifa left one person dead and several wounded on Monday, medics said, in what police called a “terror attack” whose perpetrator was killed.

It was the first fatal attack in Israel since a ceasefire took effect in the Gaza Strip on January 19 between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The attack came as negotiations between the two sides stalled after the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended at the weekend.

Medical teams “have pronounced the death of a man around 70 years old and are providing medical treatment to and evacuating four injured individuals”, Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service said.

It said a man and woman around 30 years of age as well as a 15-year-old boy were seriously injured.

Israeli police label as “terror” attacks those connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but they have yet to confirm the identity of the perpetrator in Monday’s attack.

Police had originally reported the attack as a shooting.

AFP journalists who arrived after the wounded were evacuated saw the attacker’s body on the ground under a blanket.

The attack took place at a bus and train station in Haifa, a large coastal city in northern Israel home to a mixed Jewish and Arab population.

Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza on Sunday after a disagreement with Hamas over extending the ceasefire.

-AFP