Sunday stabbing and shooting attack in Negev desert leaves two dead

A Palestinian girl walks past a new part of a wall put in place by Israeli officials to start to separate the Palestinian neighborhood of Jabal Mukaber from the Jewish settlement of Armon Hanatziv in east Jerusalem.

JERUSALEM — Two people were killed and nearly a dozen injured in a shooting and stabbing attack on Sunday evening carried out by an Israeli Bedouin Arab in the southern Israeli city of Beersheva, Israeli police confirmed Monday.

One of the dead was identified as 19-year-old soldier Omri Levy, whose military rifle was taken and used by the assailant in the attack. The second victim, police said, was an Eritrean asylum seeker, whose name has not yet been released. His death was the result of mistaken identity after a security guard shot him believing he was a second attacker, they said.

On Monday a video clip went viral showing the Eritrean being kicked and beaten by an Israeli mob as he lay bleeding on the floor after being shot. Paramedics who arrived on the scene to treat the wounded were prevented from taking him to hospital, witnesses said. The Israeli police launched an investigation into what local media described as a ‘lynch’ against an innocent man.

The attack, which took place in the Negev desert city’s central bus station during the busy rush hour period, follows more than two weeks of daily attacks by Palestinians against Israelis that has left the country shaken and on edge.

Israel’s internal security agency identified the Beersheva attacker as Mohind al-Okbi, 21, a resident of a nearby Bedouin town. Some Bedouins in Israel serve as trackers in the Israeli military but many identify with the Palestinians, sharing the same religion, language and other cultural traits.

Since the start of October, eight Israelis have been killed by Palestinians in nearly 30 attacks. At least 18 of the assailants were shot and killed on the spot by police, soldiers or security guards, drawing harsh criticism, especially from Palestinians, that Israel is using excessive force instead of apprehending suspects.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, meanwhile speaking from Madrid, called on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to put an end to the current “senseless” violence taking place there, the Associated Press reported from the Spanish capital.