Haifa residents were shocked to find out on Thursday that the local flower seller, a quiet man who devotedly fed all the street cats, was the terrorist who shot a policeman on Thursday in the Old City of Jerusalem, Kikar H’Shabbos reported. Shadi Bena, a 44-year-old Arab Christian resident of Haifa, married with one son, was known in the city as a courteous man who managed the local flower shop. Shimon Sabag, who worked near the flower store, told Israeli media: “I saw him almost every morning for ten years. He’s the last person I would think of that would commit a terror attack. We’re in utter shock. I knew he converted to Islam recently.” “There are no words,” the shocked Sabag continued.

The terrorist who carried out the ramming attack in Jerusalem early Thursday morning was arrested at the Gush Etzion Junction by Israeli security forces on Thursday evening following an all-day manhunt. The 25-year-old terrorist is a resident of the A-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem who has no record of previous security offenses, the Shin Bet stated. Following his arrest, the terrorist was transferred to the Shin Bet for interrogation. The attack, which occurred at 2 a.m. on Thursday morning at the First Station in Jerusalem injured 12 Golani soldiers who were on a heritage tour to Jerusalem overnight on Wednesday ahead of their swearing-in ceremony at the Kosel scheduled for early Thursday morning. תשעה מהחיילים שנפצעו בפיגוע הדריסה בירושלים הגיעו לטקס ההשבעה בבא"ח גולני.

An earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale struck west of Haifa at 6:40 a.m. on Thursday morning and was felt in Haifa and in central coastal cities. There were no reports of injuries or damage to properties. The epicenter of the earthquake was off the coast of Haifa in the Mediterranean Sea. Israel Police said it received almost 200 calls about the minor earthquake, which shook northern Israel. Some Haifa residents felt their buildings moving for about 4 – 5 seconds and evacuated the building. A Haifa resident told Ynet: “I live on the 11th floor out of 15. The whole building shook and all my things [in my apartment] shook and I heard a boom in the background.” “I felt a very strong tremor,” a Caesarea resident told Ynet.

A recent news incident in Denmark involving espionage, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Mossad seems to prove cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia regarding the Iranian threat, a report on the Israeli website Intelli Times revealed. Denmark arrested three Iranian nationals on Tuesday on claims of spying for Saudia Arabia on Danish soil from 2012 to 2018. The Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET) said the three Iranians “collected information about individuals in Denmark and abroad and passed on this information to a Saudi intelligence service,” among other things.

Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes early on Thursday near Damascus, wounding eight soldiers, Syrian state media said, while an opposition war monitoring group said the strikes targeted army positions as well as Iran-backed fighters, killing 12. The state news agency SANA said the Syrian air defenses shot down most of the missiles in the suburbs of the capital and the country’s south before they reached their targets. It said the Israeli warplanes fired the missiles while flying over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and neighboring Lebanon. SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that eight soldiers were wounded in the airstrikes, adding that they caused material damage as well.

An IDF soldier was lightly wounded in a shooting attack near Talmon in the Binyamin region on Thursday afternoon in the third terror attack in less than 12 hours. Initial reports said that it appeared to be a drive-by shooting, with the terrorist escaping the scene immediately afterward. Earlier today, a Border Police officer was lightly wounded in a shooting attack near Har Habayis. The terrorist was eliminated by police forces at the scene. In the early hours of Thursday morning, at about 2 a.m., 12 soldiers were wounded in a ramming attack near First Station in southern Jerusalem. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)

A Lebanese Shi’ite cleric who visited Auschwitz last month as part of a delegation of Muslim religious leaders is seeking asylum in France due to death threats against him, The Jerusalem Post reported. Sheikh Mohamad Ali El Husseini of Lebanon participated in the most senior delegation of Muslim religious leaders to visit Auschwitz on January 23 to mark the 75th year of its liberation. The Muslim delegation was accompanied by a delegation of American Jewish Committee (AJC) officials and also visited the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw as well as the Nozyk shul, where they met with Holocaust survivors.

A shooting attack took place on Har Habayis on Thursday about noon. An Arab terrorist shot a policeman near Har Habayis. Other policemen on the scene responded with gunfire and the terrorist was neutralized. MDA paramedics provided emergency treatment to the policeman, in his 20s, who was lightly wounded. “When we arrived at the scene…the victim was standing and was fully conscious; he suffered an injury on his hand,” MDA paramedic Yisrael Weingarten said. This is a developing story.

The Israeli Air Force attacked Hamas terrorist targets overnight on Wednesday in response to the firing of explosive balloons and mortars into Israel during the day, the IDF spokesperson said. Two mortar shells were fired at Israel on Wednesday evening, exploding in open areas in southern Israel and clusters of explosive balloons landed in southern Israel earlier on Wednesday. The IDF tested a new laser system designed to destroy the explosive balloons launched from the Gaza Strip by terror organizations and the tests were successful, a Kan News report said on Wednesday evening. Dozens of explosive balloons have been launched into Israel over the last two weeks, some of which have exploded in the air, causing panic and shock among residents of Israel’s south.

Numerous people were injured in what appears to be a terror attack in Jerusalem early Thursday morning. Police say a vehicle slammed into the victims near “First Station”. United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom treated at least 8 victims on the scene. Some were taken to Hadassah Har Hatzofim and Hadasah Ein Kerem hospitals, and some treated on the scene and released. All were reportedly in stable condition. Police say the driver fled the vehicle, and a manhunt was launched. United Hatzalah volunteer EMT Aharon Pomp who was one of the first responders at the scene said: “Together with other EMS personnel, I treated one young man who was in serious condition after he suffered a full-system-trauma. I also treated two other young people who sustained moderate injuries.