Violent gun attack in Beer-Sheva: policewoman killed and ten injured

This Sunday, October 6, the southern Israeli town of Beer-Sheva was the scene of a gun and knife attack. According to a statement from Magen David Adom, the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross, a 25-year-old policewoman was killed and ten people wounded, some by bullets and others by stab wounds.

The assailant, quickly neutralized by security forces, caused panic in the city’s central bus station. The Israeli police confirmed that the victim, Shira Haya Suslik, belonged to the border guard unit and “fell in a confrontation with the terrorist”.

Context of heightened tensions

The attack comes on the eve of the anniversary of the October 7 attack carried out by Hamas last year, which plunged the region into an unprecedented spiral of violence. The attack put the Israeli army on high alert, in anticipation of possible new attacks.

A reminder of previous violence

Last Tuesday, another bloody assault took place in Tel Aviv, where seven people were killed by two armed Palestinians. Claimed by Hamas, this was the deadliest attack with automatic weapons and knives on Israeli soil in the last year.

Since October 7 of the previous year, the conflict has caused the death of 1,205 people on the Israeli side, mainly civilians, while more than 41,870 Palestinians have lost their lives in the Gaza Strip in retaliation, according to sources from the Gaza Ministry of Health and the UN.