JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli security forces in an early morning raid on Tuesday shot and killed a Palestinian suspected of being behind the killing of a West Bank settler last month, Israeli and Palestinian officials…
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli security forces in an early morning raid on Tuesday shot and killed a Palestinian suspected of being behind the killing of a West Bank settler last month, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Israel’s Shin Bet security service said the joint operation with the military surrounded Ahmad Jarrar’s home in the northern West Bank. When Jarrar emerged with weapons and explosives, they shot him dead. Palestinian authorities confirmed Jarrar’s death.
In January, Rabbi Raziel Shevah, 35, was killed in a drive-by shooting near his home in the unauthorized settlement outpost near the West Bank city of Nablus. Since then, the Israeli military has been conducting a large manhunt in the area of Jarrar’s hometown of Jenin. Israeli forces demolished his home in a previous attempt to catch him.
Tuesday’s killing came a day after a Palestinian stabbed to death an Israeli man, 29-year-old Itamar Ben Gal, at a bus stop near the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ariel, before fleeing the scene.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Tuesday’s operation and vowed that the killer of Ben Gal will also be pursued.
“The security forces will catch whoever tries to attack Israeli citizens and we will deal with them to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
There has been a spike in Palestinian violence since President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The move sparked outrage across the Muslim world, where it was seen as the United States taking Israel’s side on the most contentious issue of the decades-old conflict.
Palestinian demonstrators have clashed with Israeli troops in the West Bank and along the Gaza-Israeli border, and 19 Palestinians have been killed in the violence since Trump’s announcement.
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