2025 Harod Valley Attack

According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, six terrorist attacks occurred during December 2025 — five in Judea and Samaria and one inside Israel — resulting in two Israeli civilian deaths and eight IDF soldiers wounded across all incidents combined.[4] The Harod Valley attack on December 26 was catalogued under the heading "Vehicular attack and stabbing in Beit She'an and the Jezreel Valley" and accounted for both civilian fatalities recorded that month.[4]

The attacker, later identified as Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Abu al-Rub, 34, from Qabatiya near Jenin in the West Bank — known by its original, indigenous Jewish name of Judea and Samaria — had entered Israel unlawfully several days before the attack.[3] Prosecutors alleged that on the morning of December 26 he took a knife and screwdriver from a northern construction site where he had been working, then stole his employer's vehicle.[3] An initial IDF inquiry described him as an unlawfully present Palestinian who had entered Israel several days earlier.[5] Security agencies later reported that he had been employed in Israel for several years.[6]

At approximately 12:16 on December 26, 2025, the attacker drove a vehicle to Beit She'an, roughly three minutes from Kibbutz Mesilot where he had taken it.[7] On Yaakov Makhlof Street he struck a 16-year-old boy, lightly injuring him; a witness reported that the attacker then got out with a knife and attempted to stab the boy, who managed to escape.[7] The attacker returned to the vehicle and drove onto a bicycle path in Beit She'an, where he struck Shimshon Mordechai, dragging him approximately 50 meters.[1][8] Mordechai was left critically wounded and was pronounced dead shortly afterward; his age was reported as 68 or 69 across different sources.[2][8]

The attacker then drove south onto Route 71 toward the Harod Valley. Near the entrance to Kibbutz Tel Yosef, he rammed a vehicle carrying Aviv Maor, an 18-year-old resident of Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud.[1][7] Her father told reporters that the occupants of the struck vehicle got out and ran, and that the attacker chased Maor and fatally stabbed her in a nearby ditch.[7] She was pronounced dead at HaEmek Medical Center in Afula.[2]

The attacker continued toward Afula. Near Maonot Junction he accelerated his pickup toward people waiting near a bus stop, then got out and struck 37-year-old Yaakov Gerber with a large rock, leaving him with a serious head injury described as moderate and stable.[7][5] A witness reported that the pickup failed to hit the people it approached at the bus stop.[5] The attacker was then neutralized near Afula and hospitalized in moderate condition.[1][2] The entire sequence of attacks lasted approximately 50 minutes.[1]

First responders initially treated the Beit She'an incident as a traffic accident involving an elderly man. Only after a separate report came in of a young woman stabbed near Ein Harod, followed by a report of gunfire in Afula, did authorities connect the three scenes as a single attack.[5]

Police Commissioner Danny Levi described the incident as "a very serious incident" and stated that the investigation was being conducted jointly with the Shin Bet and other security officials.[2] Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the military to act forcefully in the attacker's home village of Qabatiya.[2]

In the hours after the attack, IDF, Shin Bet, and Border Police forces entered Qabatiya and raided the attacker's home, arresting his father and questioning suspects, searching for weapons and wanted individuals, and mapping the home in preparation for its demolition.[6] Units taking part in the operation included Duvdevan, the Paratroopers Reconnaissance Unit, and the Prison Service's Masada unit, operating alongside Shin Bet and Border Police personnel.[6] Authorities also reinforced roads and communities in the area amid concern about copycat attacks.[6] A subsequent report stated that the attacker's home in Qabatiya had been sealed by the IDF.[9]

The two people killed were Shimshon Mordechai, a resident of Beit She'an described as a person with disabilities, and Aviv Maor, a young woman from Kibbutz Ein Harod.[1][2] Witness accounts described Mordechai being dragged by the vehicle for about 50 meters before he was left critically wounded on the bicycle path.[1] Maor was chased on foot after fleeing the rammed vehicle and was stabbed in a ditch near Kibbutz Tel Yosef.[7]

Reports vary on the victims' ages. The Jerusalem Post's account of the indictment gives Mordechai as 68 and Maor as 18.[3] Ynet reported Mordechai as 69 and Maor as 19,[1] while the Jewish Virtual Library lists Mordechai as 68 and Maor as 17.[10] In addition to the two fatalities, injuries were sustained by a 16-year-old boy in Beit She'an and a 37-year-old man near Afula; the total number of wounded varies across reports, with figures ranging from two to at least six additional people.[2][11]

The attacker was identified in an indictment filed by prosecutors on January 29, 2026, as Ahmad Abd al-Rahim Abu al-Rub, 34, from Kabatiya near Jenin.[3] He was charged with two counts of murder as an act of terrorism and three counts of attempted murder.[3] The prosecution alleged that the attack was pre-planned and motivated by nationalist, religious, and ideological motives — characterizations that are allegations in the indictment rather than adjudicated findings.[3]

Prosecutors cited a confession, forensic evidence, security-camera footage, and eyewitness testimony as evidence, and requested that he remain in custody pending proceedings.[3] Charges were also filed against two of his brothers and his employer in connection with alleged illegal presence, employment, or transportation of an unlawfully present person.[3] His employer, an Arab Israeli resident of Arraba, was arrested and transferred for questioning by the Shin Bet.[7]

An initial IDF inquiry described the attacker as having entered Israel unlawfully several days earlier.[5] Security agencies subsequently reported that he had been employed in Israel for several years.[6] The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, citing the Israel Police spokesperson and Israeli media, reported that he had also previously been involved in throwing Molotov cocktails.[4]

Hamas praised the attack on its Telegram channel on December 26, 2025, describing it as "an expression of accumulated popular anger and a result of the ongoing crimes of the Zionist occupation."[4] Palestinian Islamic Jihad similarly praised the attack on its own Telegram channel, calling it "proof that our people adhere to their land and their rights, despite the occupation's aggression."[4] Both statements are political characterizations by those organizations and are not neutral descriptions of the events.

Multiple factual details varied across initial and subsequent media reports. Maor was reported as 17 by the Jewish Virtual Library,[10] 18 in the Jerusalem Post's account of the indictment,[3] and 19 by Ynet, which listed Mordechai as 69 rather than 68.[1] The attacker's age was given as 37 by JNS and 34 in the indictment report, while his name and home village appeared in several transliterations.[2][3]

The reported number of wounded also varied. JNS reported two wounded,[2] the Jerusalem Post's indictment report described three survivors as wounded,[3] and Israel Hayom reported at least six additional people wounded.[11] Accounts likewise differed on how the attacker was stopped: Ynet credited a passerby,[1] JNS described a security officer as having shot and arrested him,[2] and mako reported police gunfire while also quoting the police commissioner crediting a security professional.[5] The January 2026 indictment provided later prosecutorial figures for the attacker, victims, and charges but did not reconcile every discrepancy in the initial reports.[3]