A young Israeli rabbi was mercilessly stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist near the Jewish settlement of Ariel in Samaria (the so-called "West Bank") on Monday.

Itamar Ben-Gal, 29, was waiting at a hitchhiking post while on his way to a brit milah – circumcision ceremony – for a nephew when the unprovoked attack occurred.

The terrorist managed to flee the scene.

Ben-Gal leaves behind his wife, Miriam, and four young children. He was buried on Tuesday in the family's hometown of Har Bracha, a small settlement on the outskirts of the Palestinian Arab city of Nablus (biblical Shechem).

Har Bracha town manager Yoni Hayisraeli told Hebrew-language media:

"Itamar was a special person, dynamic, energetic, young and fresh-faced, full of life, who devoted his life to education and to adding life, adding Torah."

Ben-Gal was a middle school teacher at a yeshiva near Tel Aviv.

A statement released by the school stated that Ben-Gal's "moral and educational image will be engraved in us forever."

PHOTO: Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal's widow, Miriam, at his funeral in the Jewish settlement of Har Bracha on Tuesday. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)