Moroccan Man, a US Green Card Holder, Stabs and Injures 4 in Tel Aviv

Members of Israeli security forces stand guard at the site of a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv where four people were injured and the assailant killed on Jan. 21, 2025. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

A U.S. green card holder and Moroccan native who arrived in Israel three days prior stabbed four people in Tel Aviv on Jan. 21, before he was shot dead by local law enforcement.

The assailant, Abdelaziz Kaddi, whose age has been variously reported as 29 or 30, was identified from identification found on his body. He had been flagged by security when arriving in the country but was granted entry, a decision Israel’s Shin Bet security agency said was being investigated.

The four people wounded in the Nahalat Binyamin neighborhood of Israel’s largest city included two men, ages 24 and 28, listed in moderate condition; and two others, 24 and 59, listed in good condition, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency service, Israel’s version of the Red Cross, local media reported.

The Tel Aviv police commissioner arriving on the scene told reporters that Kaddi appeared to have acted alone and that the incident was over.

Photos posted online show Kaddi’s U.S. green card that granted him permanent U.S. residency status for 10 years beginning Sept. 13, 2022, and his Israeli border control permit issued Jan. 18, 2025, when he entered on a tourist visa.

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel told reporters that border control officers from the Population and Immigration Authority identified Kaddi as a threat as he arrived at David Ben Gurion International Airport on Jan. 18 on a connecting flight from Poland. Officers transferred him to Shin Bet security officials for further questioning.

Border authorities noticed several suspicious signs as he arrived, including that he was single, without family, without friends in the country, and did not provide a hotel address.

A Shin Bet officer allowed him to enter Israel. The Shin Bet told local media Tuesday that its assessments had not raised any further red flags, nor were there any security concerns to prevent Kaddi from entering the country. He had applied for a tourist visa at an Israeli consulate abroad, and Shin Bet had run background and security checks as part of his application process.

The stabbings took place on a street in a trendy neighborhood that is usually crowded in the evening. People who heard the gunshots fired at the attacker panicked, entering restaurants and hiding under tables. Video camera footage from one sidewalk cafe showed people running for cover as the shots—first one, and then three more shortly after—sounded.

Kaddi was shot by IDF soldiers from an elite unit who were passersby.

“We came down from the house, and saw the terrorist knocking a civilian to the floor. We shouted at him to stop and shot him when he refused. We fired four bullets in total,” they told local media.

One who gave chase was an IDF tank captain, identified only as Captain Aleph in a news report, who lost a hand fighting in Gaza about a year ago. He is now in company commander school at Israel’s Tactical Command College, he said in a video distributed by the IDF.

“I went out with my friends from the course to Nahalat Binyamin, and during the outing, a terrorist came and tried to stab one of us. As soon as I noticed the incident, I tried to hit the terrorist and we chased him,” he said.

He was lightly injured in the attack and returned to his course the next day.

Before carrying out the attack, Kaddi visited a local pizzeria and was filmed on surveillance videos buying slices and speaking to the eatery’s owner.

The owner, Chaim Bassan, told Israeli television about his encounter, which was just a few minutes before the incident:

“I only realized when I got home, and images were circulating on WhatsApp,” he said, referring to the news and chat platform popular in Israel. “That’s when I saw a photo of the terrorist. He was so close to us. We talked to him.

“A few minutes after he left the pizzeria, people began to run. They were shouting ‘Terrorist!’ and I heard gunfire. So I ran. It didn’t occur to me that it was anything to do with him,” Bassan said.

Bassan said Kaddi spoke to him in English with an Arabic accent and that he remarked to him about his choice of language, which he thought was unusual. “He ate outside, and he even returned his plate, which not all Israelis do.”

It was the second stabbing attack in Tel Aviv in three days. On Jan. 18, a 28-year-old man was seriously injured by a Palestinian attacker, local media reported. The attacker was shot dead by a passerby.