The Israeli soldier that was killed in a suspected terrorist attack in the southern city of Arad has been identified as Ron Yitzhak Kukia, 19. Kukia, who served in the Nahal brigade, was stabbed to death at a bus stop at 9:26 p.m. in the southern Israeli town of Arad, east of Beer Sheva.
The Tel Aviv-born infantry soldier died within minutes from blood loss. Police and the Israel Security Service are searching for the 1 or 2 perpetrators who took his rifle. Investigators say the suspects are Arab and that the attack is terror related.
The soldier was posthumously promoted to sergeant.
Also on Thursday, a resident of the Israeli settlement of Migdalim shot dead a Palestinian while escorting a school trip outside a nearby Palestinian village. The shooter and other parents who escorted the teenage children said villagers threw stones and rocks at them, forcing them to fire to protect the children.
Several of the parents escorting the trip were wounded from stones but the children were kept safe after an armed escorting father led them to a cave as the other parents confronted the stone throwers. Israel Defense Forces rushed to the scene and extracted the Israelis while other forces engaged the stone throwers and dispersed the riot.
