Knife attack in Haifa: One killed, several injured, assailant 'killed'

A knife attack resulted in one death and several injuries on Monday morning in Haifa, northern Israel, Israeli rescue services reported. The police described it as a "terrorist attack," and confirmed that the perpetrator was killed.

The attack, which police said killed the perpetrator, occurred at a bus station in the coastal city, as the continuation of the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appears uncertain while Israel blocks humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza. Police had not confirmed the identity of the attacker as of late morning, but the description of the attack as a "terrorist attack" indicates that it is linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Arriving after the evacuation of the victims at the Hamifratz bus and train station in central Haifa, AFP journalists saw the body of the attacker on the ground, under a blanket, and a lot of blood on the ground. Magen David Adom rescue workers said they had "declared the death of a 70-year-old man" and added that their teams were treating four injured people, including "three in serious condition," a man and a woman in their thirties as well as a 15-year-old boy, and "a 70-year-old woman in moderate condition."

A mixed Jewish-Arab city, Haifa is the largest city in northern Israel.

Humanitarian aid blocked 

The attack came as indirect negotiations to continue the truce in Gaza, which silenced the guns on Jan. 19 after 15 months of war, appear to be at an impasse. Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian aid on Sunday, permitted during the first phase of the truce that ended Saturday, after disagreements with the Islamist movement on the terms of the continuation of the ceasefire. According to it, the cause was Hamas' rejection of an American compromise providing for an extension of the first phase during Ramadan and Passover, until mid-April. The plan stipulates, according to Israel, that "half of the Israeli hostages" held in Gaza, "dead and alive," would be repatriated on the first day of its entry into force. The last hostages would be handed over "at the end if an agreement is reached on a permanent cease-fire."

Hamas, which has been in power in Gaza since 2007, rejected this option, accusing Israel of wanting to "evade" its commitments. It has reaffirmed its "willingness to complete the [two] remaining stages of the initial agreement," namely "a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire" and the "complete withdrawal" of Israel from Gaza, before "the reconstruction and lifting of the siege" of the territory.

Refusing for the moment to engage in the second stage, Israel demanded that Gaza be completely demilitarized and Hamas eliminated, which this Islamist movement excludes.

'Israel's Best Friend'

Hamas called the blocking of aid to the Palestinian territory, whose 2.4 million people have been under siege by Israel since the start of the war, a "war crime." U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for "an immediate return of humanitarian aid to Gaza," urging "all parties to make the necessary efforts to avoid a return to hostilities." Several Arab countries, including Qatar, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, denounced a "flagrant violation of the agreement" on the cease-fire, accusing Israel of "using hunger as a weapon against the Palestinian people." An Arab ministerial meeting is scheduled for Monday in Cairo, followed by an Arab summit devoted to Gaza.

Brokered by Qatar, the United States and Egypt, the truce agreement has three phases. In the first, Hamas returned 33 hostages, including eight dead, to Israel in exchange for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian detainees. Of the 251 hostages taken to Gaza during Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, 58 are still being held there, including 34 who have been declared dead by the Israeli military.

The attack left 1,218 Israelis dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data and including hostages killed or taken captive in Gaza. The Israeli army's response left at least 48,392 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to data from Gaza's Health Ministry, deemed reliable by the UN.

The United States announced that it accelerated the sending of military aid of about $4 billion to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked President Donald Trump on Sunday for this aid which will allow, according to him, Israel "to finish the job against the Iranian axis of terrorism."

Trump "is the best friend that Israel has ever had in the White House," he said.