A Jordanian citizen who is in Israel illegally has been indicted for attempting to stab an Israeli soldier in Hadera.
On the night of July 27, police officers questioned a man who exhibited suspicious behavior while sitting at a bus station in the central Israeli city.
Upon asking the man for identification, the officers learned his name was Mohammad Maslah, and that he had entered Israel illegally from the West Bank city of Tulkarem
While being questioned, Maslah pulled out a knife and tried unsuccessfully to stab the officers. He then tried to flee, but was stopped in his tracks when one of the officers fired at his legs.
An indictment was filed against Maslah with the Haifa District Court on Monday. According to the indictment, Maslah entered the Palestinian territories from Jordan in June and had been staying with his sister in the West Bank village of Deir al-Ghusun. He procured a 6.6-inch knife from a warehouse adjacent to his sister's home, which he intended to use to stab an Israeli soldier to death.
On the morning of July 22, Maslah left his sister's home armed with the knife and entered Israeli territory through a breach in the border fence. He took a bus to the center of Hadera, where he walked around for several hours, looking for a soldier to stab, before being detained by police that evening.
