A lone Palestinian attacker killed a 13-year-old Israeli child and wounded another in a West Bank settlement, drawing international condemnation.
Key Facts
- Date of attack
- 2 April 2009
- Attacker
- Moussa Tayet, from Khirbet Safa
- Weapons used
- Axe and knife
- Fatality
- Shlomo Nativ, age 13
- Wounded
- Yair Gamliel, age 7, seriously injured
- Arrest date
- 14 April 2009
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Moussa Tayet, a Palestinian man from Khirbet Safa, carried out an attack in the Israeli settlement of Bat Ayin in the West Bank. Palestinian Islamic Jihad and two obscure Palestinian groups claimed responsibility, though Israeli authorities later determined Tayet had no links to any organized militant group.
On 2 April 2009, Tayet attacked a group of Israeli children with an axe and a knife in Bat Ayin, killing 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ and seriously wounding 7-year-old Yair Gamliel. The attack took place in a residential settlement area in the West Bank.
Israeli security forces arrested Tayet on 14 April 2009, and he subsequently confessed to the killing. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack, while Hamas justified it, highlighting the deep political divisions surrounding violence in the region.