Shaar Binyamin (TPS) – A deadly stabbing attack was carried out by two Palestinian terrorists at an Israeli supermarket in the Binyamin Region on Thursday, February 18, killing a 21-year-old resident of the Jewish community of Michmash.

According to a police spokesperson, shortly before 5:00 PM two Palestinians aged 14 and 15 entered the supermarket in the Shaar Binyamin industrial zone and walked around for 20 minutes before stabbing two Israeli men, one of whom suffered critical wounds and died in hospital. Civilians then prevented them from escaping, using shopping carts, until the terrorists were shot and neutralized by an armed civilian at the scene.

“The store was packed with people when I suddenly heard people screaming,” an eyewitness at the scene told Tazpit Press Service (TPS). “Someone was shouting ‘what are you doing?’ and then I heard the gunshots. When people were running away I heard babies and women crying, it was frantic.”

According to Magen David Adom (MDA), two civilians were wounded in the incident. One of  them, 21 years old, was critically wounded after suffering stab wounds to his neck. He was treated at the scene and transported, unconscious, to Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem where he later succumbed to his wounds.

The second victim, 36-year-old Avi Avital, resident of the nearby Jewish community of Tel Zion, suffered moderate stab wounds in the back and was transported fully conscious to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Several other people at the scene suffered from shock, including a pregnant woman.

“We pray for a quick recovery of the two victims, both residents of the Binyamin Region,” Avi Roeh, Head of the Binyamin Regional Council told TPS before one of them was pronounced dead. “Our social workers are already working with the victims’ families to support them in this difficult time. We support the Israeli security forces in their war against terrorism.”

The two wounded terrorists, residents of the Palestinian village of Beitunia, were treated at the scene and transported to an Israeli hospital.

The Shaar Binyamin industrial zone is a joint shopping and business area where both Jews and Palestinians often coexisted together peacefully until today.

Michael Zeff contributed to this report.