Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Hezbollah leader Hassan NasrallahReuters

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on the weekend telephoned the family of Ashraqat Qatani, a 16-year-old Palestinian Arab terrorist who last week attempted to stab a teenager in Samaria before being run over by former Shomron Regional Council head Gershon Mesika, Channel 2 News reports.

According to the report, during the telephone call which took place on Friday Nasrallah expressed his condolences to the young terrorist's father, and told him that he considered Ashraqat to be a “Palestinian shahid (martyr)”, like his son Hadi, who was killed in a battle with Israeli soldiers in Lebanon years ago.

The father reportedly told Nasrallah that he would like the Hezbollah leader to mention his daughter’s name in an upcoming speech, which Nasrallah promised to do.

Last Sunday morning, Ashraqat approached the Territorial Brigade Intersection near Elon Moreh, and raised a kitchen knife to the back of a young teenage girl waiting for a ride at the stop.

Mesika spotted the terrorist and ran her over before she could carry out the attack. Security forces at the site then fatally wounded her.

Her father later said he was proud of his daughter.

"My daughter left home this morning to go to school, like she does every day," he said. "Instead, she went to go attack [Jews] and fulfill her national and moral duty."

"I'm proud of her."

Nasrallah, whose Hezbollah terrorist group targets northern Israel and is also heavily involved in fighting in Syria, last month said he backed the recent campaign of Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israelis, describing them as resistance and an "intifada."

"I emphasize our absolute support for the rights of the Palestinian people and their intifada," he said.

"It is incumbent upon us all to stand by the Palestinians and help them all we can, and to recognize the fact that the Palestinians have in front of them... no choice but the choice of resistance and intifada," he added.

Nasrallah said the Palestinians were responding to "provocations by Israelis" and were seeking to prevent the "Judaization of Al-Aqsa Mosque."

He previously said that Iran, which funds Hezbollah’s activities against Israel, is the only state that poses an existential threat to Israel.