Axe-Wielding Terrorist Kills Boy, 14, Wounds 7-Year-Old in Bat Ayin

The initial assumption, that the terrorist was an Arab laborer and had therefore not aroused suspicion...

The IDF said the possibility that the terrorist was holed up in one of the houses in the settlement had not been ruled out...

...A Bat Ayin resident who saw the younger boy running from the terrorist stepped in and disarmed the man.

"I saw a boy, aged 7 or 8, running past my house, and then I saw a 20-year-old man running after him," a man who identified himself as Avinoam told Channel 10. "I approached him, and he turned to me and tried to attack me with the axe."

"I grabbed his hand, we struggled, and I yelled for people to call for help and the police," he continued.

"At a certain point, I managed to get the axe out of his hand," Avinoam said. "I was on the ground, and at that point the man managed to escape.

"I heard a little later that somebody tried to shoot him but missed," he said. "I saw in his eyes the lust to kill. I didn't see what happened before I got outside, but I saw the wounded boy screaming, yelling to his mother that he was hurt."

Magen David Adom officials who rushed to the scene said that despite desperate attempts by paramedics to save his life, the soul of 13-year-old Shlomo Nativ slipped away shortly after the terrorist attacked him...

A second, younger boy who was also attacked suffered serious head wounds and was evacuated by helicopter to Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center. A spokesperson for the hospital said that Yair Gamliel, who arrived fully conscious despite his grievous wounds, would soon undergo surgery to repair his broken skull. He is listed in serious, but stable condition...

Gush Etzion Regional Council head Shaul Goldstein denied that the terrorist was an Arab worker in the community. "No Arab workers are allowed in Bat Ayin," he explained, pointing out that the residents prefer to support Jewish labor.