JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Sudanese national who stabbed an Israeli soldier in Ashkelon was influenced to carry out the attack by the Islamic State, the Shin Bet said.
The results of a joint investigation by the security service and police released Thursday determined that the assailant, Kamel Hassan, 32, was a devout Muslim and adherent of the Islamic State. Photos of Islamic State members and leaders from around the world were found on his cellphone.
The soldier was slightly wounded in the Feb. 7 attack in the southern Israeli city — reportedly the first carried out in Israel by a citizen of Sudan. The attacker was shot at the scene and died later of his wounds.
Hassan illegally infiltrated into Israel from Egypt, and was arrested in Israel for a violence-related offense in 2009. He spent a month at the Holot detention facility, living afterward in Ashkelon and Ashdod.
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