19-year-old Israeli soldier killed, one other hurt in stabbing at Karmiel mall

July 3 (UPI) -- In a suspected terrorist act, an off-duty Israeli soldier was killed and another severely wounded in a Wednesday stabbing attack at a shopping center in the country's north region.

Sgt. Aleksandr Iakiminskyi, 19, from Nahariya, was a driver in the 71st Battalion, 188th Brigade and was killed in Wednesday's attack at a shopping mall in the Israeli city of Karmiel, according to Israel Defense Forces .

The other severely wounded person -- who was an armed soldier also of the 71st Battalion, 188th Brigade -- managed to disarm and shoot the assailant. Both were taken to Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya, where Iakiminskyi was declared dead, officials said.

The suspect, who was reported to have been killed, was later identified by officials to be Jawwad Omar Rubia, a 21-year-old Israeli citizen from the neighboring Arab town of Nahf, which had a population nearing 13,000 as of 2019.

Officials said the attacker arrived at the scene on foot.

Security camera footage from a store in the Karmiel mall showed Rubia attacking an individual, who then opened fire at him.

"When I arrived at the shopping mall, I was sent to the second floor. I saw two casualties, males in their 20s, lying close to the stalls with penetrating wounds. One was unconscious," a paramedic told The Jerusalem Post . "We placed them in the MICU while providing medical treatment, with one in critical condition and the other conscious and in serious condition."

Multiple members of Rubia's family, some who worked at the mall, also were taken into custody for questioning. It was suspected Rubia spoke with his sister before Wednesday's attack took place, authorities said.

"I quickly arrived at the scene on my ambucycle and we performed CPR on a young man in his 20s," the other paramedic said.

"We also provided medical assistance to another man in his 20s who sustained moderate to serious wounds."

As incitement and terror rises locally amid the ongoing war in Gaza against Hamas , Israeli Police officials said security forces did not immediately rule out the possibility of additional threats in the area.

The Iran-backed terror group Hamas said the deadly mall incident was a "natural response" to ongoing events in the region as tensions exasperate many in the Middle East.

Hamas in a statement called Rubia "one of the heroes of our people" as it praised the stabbing, but it did not go so far as to take responsibility.

Karmiel -- a strategically established city in the 1960s that is part of an Israeli government attempt to expand Jewish presence in the area mixed with a majority of people of Arab descent -- has in recent years seen a growing number of upper-middle-class Arab professionals move in, according to The Times of Israel .

As of 2019, Karmiel's population was more than 46,000 inhabitants.

"I really hope it's not a resident of the area," Karmiel Mayor Moshe Koninski said. "There are weeds everywhere, among Jews and Arabs alike."

"We are experiencing such an event for the first time," he said, adding that the "old shopping center" is used "by most of the area."

The deadly stabbing came as it was recently reported that Israel's Security Cabinet is considering proposals to "strengthen" Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank -- where some 700,00 Jewish settlers are estimated to live -- in response to several nations recently taking the mostly symbolic step to recognize a state of Palestine.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Nahf condemned the attack saying the community has kept good relations with its Jewish neighbors in the past.

"I hope this won't spoil those relations," Nahf Mayor Muhammad Zuri said in a statement. "There is outrage in the village over this incident, and we hope it will remain an isolated one."

Koninski said he had heard "a lot of speculation about" the assailant's identity. "But we will let the police complete their investigation," Karmiel's mayor said.