The terrorist who carried out a fatal stabbing and ramming attack in Beersheba on Tuesday has been identified as an Arab-Israeli from the southern Bedouin town of Hura, a former schoolteacher and Islamic State supporter who was in prison on terror charges.
Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qi’an, 34, has been identified as the man who killed four people and injured two others in the attack outside a shopping center in the southern city before he was shot dead by a bus driver and another passerby.
According to medics, he died of his wounds.
Abu al-Qi’an, a resident of the nearby Bedouin town of Hura, was an elementary school teacher before he was sentenced to four years in prison in 2016 for belonging to the Islamic State and trying to recruit people for the jihadist group.
While in detention, he admitted to having set up a secret group that would hold secret meetings related to Islamic State and planned to leave Israel under the guise of a pilgrimage to Mecca, but with the real aim of joining ISIS. to join fighters in Syria.
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Abu al-Qi’an, who was charged in 2015 with two other teachers and several others for supporting ISIS, also gave sermons to members of the community – including minors – in which he promoted ISIS and claimed that the extremist group does not deviate from Islam.
The attacker shot dead in Beersheba on March 22, 2022. (Screenshot: Channel 13)
According to Haaretz daily, Abu al-Qi’an, then a father of five, told the judge at his sentencing that he regretted his actions and wanted to return to his family.
It was not immediately clear what Abu al-Qi’an had been doing since his release from prison in 2019.
Tuesday’s knife attack drew praise from both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups. No one claimed him as a member. There was initially no reaction from the Islamic State.
Hura Municipal Council “condemned the deadly attack in every possible way”.
“Attacking innocent civilians is a criminal and despicable act of terrorism,” the statement said. “The Council calls on both Arabs and Jews of the Negev to maintain the neighborly relations that have existed between the two sides to date.”
The killing spree was the deadliest attack on Israeli civilians since June 2016, when two terrorists opened fire at Tel Aviv’s Sarona market, killing four and wounding 16.
The attack came amid a series of attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Officials have warned of a possible flare-up in violence during Ramadan next month.
Tensions have risen after nine Palestinians were killed in violent clashes with Israeli forces in recent weeks, including gun battles with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank during raids and attempted attacks.
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