Israel: 16-year-old arrested for allegedly planning stabbing attack

Security forces arrested an Arab Israeli teenager who allegedly planned to carry out a stabbing at a police station in Tira, a northern city adjacent to the Green Line. The 16-year-old was detained on Saturday, May 3, after he approached officers from the police station with a knife yelling “Allahu akbar.” The officers overpowered him using a taser gun and arrested him on the spot. The boy was later transferred to the custody of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) for questioning. Last December, two Israelis were wounded, one seriously, in a stabbing at the entrance of a police station in the Galilee city of Karmiel. The perpetrator, a resident of the nearby Arab town of Nahf, was arrested after a search. Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, security forces have investigated 80 cases involving Arab Israeli citizens, with 26 accused of swearing allegiance to ISIS and other terrorist groups. The Shin Bet has also detained over 100 Arab Israeli citizens for questioning in cases of national security in 2024.