Police in south Tel Aviv are investigating a near-lethal and unprovoked assault last Wednesday on a 30-year-old woman at a Florentin laundromat.

According to the owner's testimony, the perpetrator had argued with him before approaching the woman who had just entered the premises. He pulled out a box cutter from his pocket and made a horizontal incision to her throat.

"He didn't stab her. He didn't stick the knife into her and then run away or anything. He just slit her throat from one side to the other," the victim's mother said.

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The owner pursued the perpetrator, whose identity remains unknown, but could not catch him. The owner later told police that he noticed the man spoke with what sounded like a foreign accent. The owner added, however, that he couldn't place the accent. He also suggested the possibility that the man had been slurring, possibly drunk.

While the owner was busy chasing after the man, passersby called an ambulance for the woman, who was lying on the floor bleeding profusely from the neck. "Someone called me all of sudden to tell me that my daughter had been injured. I was so worried I almost went mad, waiting for the hospital to call me. I had no idea where they were taking her!" her mother recalls.

The victim underwent extensive surgery for hours, until her condition stabilized and the doctors managed to patch up her wound, which was dangerously close to her jugular.

Police are investigating the crime, but have so far produced no evidence and no leads. "We started looking for people matching the suspect's description. At present, we can't really determine why he did it," police officer Albert Ohaiun, who is handling the case, told Haaretz.

The victim moved to Florentin only recently, not too far from the offices of the international translation company where she works.

"The neighborhood is pretty bad, but the landlord installed a electronic-code lock and he is actually pretty particular about his tenants. The neighbors there are good people," the victim's mother says. "We're normal people, leading normal lives. We don't even smoke. Now all of a sudden we have to deal with the police, and such a violent crime. It's worse than Harlem."