60-year-old identified as victim of terror attack
A 60-year-old man killed in a Palestinian car-ramming and stabbing attack on Tuesday was identified as Aharon Cohen, a resident of Kiryat Arba.
Sappers check a car after pipe bombs were found in a vehicle used in a car-ramming and stabbing attack at the Gush Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem Nov. 18, 2025. One Israeli was killed and three others were injured. Photo by Kobi Natan/TPS-IL
Three other Israelis were injured when two Palestinians accelerated their car at people at the Gush Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem, then proceeded to stab several victims. The terrorists, identified as 18-year-olds Imran al-Atrash and Walid Sabarneh from Hebron and Beit Ummar, respectively, were shot and killed by responding security forces.
Emergency responders pronounced Cohen dead at the scene. Three others were evacuated to hospitals in Jerusalem. Magen David Adom said a 55-year-old woman was evacuated to Jerusalem’s Hadassah-En Kerem Medical Centre in critical condition with gunshot wounds after being hit by Israeli fire. A 30-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were treated at Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Centre; both were conscious, with the man lightly injured and the teenager in moderate condition.
Following the attack, Israeli forces discovered several explosive devices in the terrorists’ vehicle, which were safely disarmed by sappers.
Eitan Saar, a United Hatzalah medic at the scene, described the chaos: “I heard the security forces shooting and shouting, I immediately understood what it was about. We saw wounded people bleeding profusely on the road. We gave them treatment and called in additional forces.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Kiryat Arba municipality said Cohen’s funeral would take place Tuesday night.
The attack sparked political responses.
The Yesha Council, the umbrella organisation representing the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, tied the attack to the UN Security Council’s approval of a resolution supporting U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza. The resolution recognises Trump’s plan as a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood,” a clause that drew cautious attention in Israel.
“When Israel quietly enables a path to a Palestinian state, terrorism again raises its head. We said all along, it is either sovereignty or a Palestinian state. The Israeli government is refraining from sovereignty and we are getting a tailwind in the sails of a terrorist state in the heart of the country,” the council said.
MK Avigdor Liberman, chairman of the opposition Yisrael Beytenu party, criticised the government’s handling of security.
“When terrorism smells weakness, it raises its head and goes out to kill. Terror attacks are not a decree of fate, but a struggle that requires determination, strength and independence, everything that this government of negligence does not have,” Liberman said.
