An Israeli security personnel secures the area following an stabbing attack in east Jerusalem December 8, 2021. REUTERS/ Stephen Farrell

The husband of the woman who was stabbed on Wednesday by a 14-year-old Palestinian girl in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah said his wife’s condition is improving, but had the attack continued, “I don’t want to think about how it would have ended.”

Moriah Cohen, 26, was walking with her five children near her home in the flashpoint neighborhood when she was approached by an attacker and stabbed once in the back.

The Israel Police said that officers arrived at the scene in force, and a police helicopter located the suspect a short distance from the site of the attack. The teenager was arrested at her school, with several others being questioned by police in connection with the incident.

“We will continue to fight terror with determination and act in every part of the city to ensure the well-being of the public and their security,” Jerusalem District Police Commander Doron Turgeman said of the incident.

Cohen’s husband Dvir recounted the scene to Israeli news site N12.

“My wife was with all the children, arrived at a crossing not far from our home, and there [the attacker] fell upon her and stabbed her,” Dvir said. “Our son screamed, ‘Mommy, you have a knife in the back,’ and with the aid of God the terrorist was apparently shocked and ran away.”

“If [the attacker] had continued,” he said, “I don’t want to think about how it would have ended.”

Dvir Cohen said that he was called to his wife’s side while he was on reserve duty, and “she is feeling good and, with the help of God, will be released today.”

“The knife, thank God, was not long,” he explained. “She says that it hurts less than childbirth.”

Cohen said that the attacker was known to him.

“I know who they are,” he said of the assailant’s family. “They live across from us, but it’s not like I ever asked them for eggs and milk.”

The Cohen family, he said, has lived in the hotly contested neighborhood for six years, and conflict with Arab neighbors is common. Among other incidents, Jewish residents have had their Hanukkah menorahs extinguished and Molotov cocktails thrown at their homes, Cohen recounted.

“In the last half year, the place has been heated,” he said. “We try hard to live our lives as usual … This is our mission in East Jerusalem.”