Two Palestinians believed to have killed three people in a terrorist attack on Israel’s Independence Day – the latest incident in the worst wave of attacks in Israel in years – have been caught by police after a three-day search.
The suspects, identified as As’ad Yousef As’ad al-Rifa’i, 19, Subhi Emad Subhi Abu Shqeir, 20, both from the occupied West Bank village of Rumana, were caught near a quarry outside the central city of Greece. . Israel on Sunday, according to a statement from the Israeli police, military agency and internal security agency.
A massive search for the couple has been going on since Thursday night, when two assailants armed with an ax and a knife stabbed people during Independence Day celebrations in Greece, an ultra-Orthodox city.
Israeli media have identified the victims as Jonathan Hawakuk, Boaz Gol and Oren Ben Yiftah, fathers aged 30 and 40, who together survived 16 children. Four more people were injured.
Ben Yiftah, a driver, was hired to take the attackers near a breach in Israel’s West Bank security fence without knowing they had crossed the barrier illegally, Israeli officials said last week. When they arrived in Greece, they killed him before heading for passers-by.
The perpetrators then fled the scene, sparking a massive search operation involving special forces, commandos, drones and helicopters before surrendering to masked soldiers in a harsh area outside the city early Sunday.
A series of deadly street attacks on Israelis, accompanied by violent clashes at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police, has sparked rising tensions in recent weeks.
Eighteen Israelis, including an Arab-Israeli police officer and two Ukrainian nationals, were killed in five separate incidents. During the same period, three Israeli Arabs and 27 Palestinians were killed, including an unarmed woman and two visible passers-by, as well as the perpetrators of the attacks. Palestinian casualties were killed mainly by Israeli security forces during intensified military operations in the occupied West Bank.
The recent escalation has raised fears of another armed conflict, similar to the 11-day war a year ago between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which was partly sparked by unrest in Al Aqsa, a site sacred to both Jews and Muslims.
Unofficially, Jews are allowed to visit, but not to pray on the spot. In recent years, however, the growing number of Jewish visitors, who sometimes pray with police escorts, has fueled long-standing fears among Palestinians that Israel plans to annex the area.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told his cabinet on Sunday that the country was entering a “new phase in the war on terror” and said Israel was setting up a civilian national guard to be deployed in emergencies such as attacks, the country has witnessed in recent weeks. .
“The main goal of the Israeli government is to restore the personal security of Israeli citizens,” he said.
Bennett will also convene his security cabinet this week to discuss Israel’s capabilities in response to the latest incident and Hamas.
All recent attacks on Israeli soil appear to have been carried out by individuals or small groups acting without coordination from larger organizations. Hamas leaders praised Thursday’s events in Greece, but did not take responsibility.
The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Sunday that officials were considering restricting the entry of Gaza workers into Israel and repairing hundreds of holes in the West Bank’s barrier that thousands of Palestinians use to gain access to illegal work in Israel.
Aware of the economic pressures facing Palestinian society and benefiting from cheap labor, Israel has until recently turned a blind eye to illegal crossings from the West Bank.
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