Two people wounded in attack in Israeli mall, police say

[July 03, 2024]  JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Two people were wounded in a stabbing attack in an Israeli mall on Wednesday, Israeli police said.
 
Police called it a suspected terror attack and said the attacker was killed. The mall is in Karmiel, northern Israel.  

Israeli security personnel stand at the entrance to a shopping mall following a stabbing attack in Karmiel, northern Israel July 3 2024. REUTERS/Avi Ohayon

Israeli medics said they were treating two men in their 20s, one in a very serious condition and the other fully conscience.

Video footage from the scene that was shared on social media and seen by Reuters showed two men lying motionless on the floor of the mall while people tried to give them urgent medical care.

At least one of the men receiving care was wearing a green uniform, the video showed. A third man, not in uniform, was lying motionless a short distance away. No one was administering care to him.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Israel is conducting a military offensive in Gaza in retaliation for the deadly Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 last year.

Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, already on the rise before the war in Gaza, has escalated further, with stepped-up Israeli military raids, settler violence and Palestinian street attacks.

In January, a Palestinian ramming attack in central Israel killed one woman and injured 12 others.

(Reporting by Emily Rose; Editing by Christian Lowe, Alex Richardson and Timothy Heritage)

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