Israeli army officer succumbs to his wounds from stabbing attack in Negev area

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli army officer succumbed to his wounds after being stabbed Thursday in the Negev area of southern Israel.

Israeli Army Radio said Chief Warrant Officer Uri Moyal, 51, was a senior technology and maintenance officer at the Nahal Brigade's training base.

He was seriously wounded along with three other Israelis in the attack.

Moyal managed to shoot the assailant dead before collapsing.

Moyal's death brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7 to 591, including 250 killed since the start of the Israeli army’s ground operation in Gaza on Oct. 27.

Israel launched its war on Gaza after a Oct. 7 cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas. It has since killed more than 31,300 Palestinians and pushed the territory to the brink of famine.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar