The site of a suspected terrorist attack in Shim’a in the West Bank on January 11, 2022. Photo: Magen David Adom

The wife of an Israeli man who was stabbed by a Palestinian in his home in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon said it was “a miracle” that their children did not get injured, and that their friend was able to stop the attack.

The 29-year-old Israeli man, Elishiv, was stabbed on his family farm near Shim’a in the West Bank. His assailant, identified in Israeli media as an 18-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank city of ad-Dhahiriya, was “neutralized at the scene,” according to the Israeli military. Elishiv was evacuated to a nearby hospital in moderate and stable condition.

Speaking of the attack with Hebrew media, the victim’s wife, Roni, said “the terrorist was at the entrance of our home.”

“By chance I wasn’t home with the kids,” she explained, having left minutes earlier.

Roni said her husband Elishiv called out after hearing the intruder, who claimed he just stopped by to drink water before approaching the victim and withdrawing a knife. A friend of Elishiv’s who arrived to help him with electrical wiring in the home sprung to the victim’s aid, Roni said.

“It’s a miracle. We weren’t home. When I heard the gunshots I immediately ran to him,” Roni recounted. “My husband spoke with me and was conscious.”

“The terrorist [wore] a keffiyeh and wounded him in his head, neck, and nape,” she added. “Immediately when he started speaking with him, he withdrew the knife. Apparently he tried to buy time. It was a miracle that the friend was there at the time and the children weren’t home.”