JERUSALEM – Israeli security forces arrested two Palestinians on Sunday who are suspected of perpetrating an ax attack. kill three Israeli Jews in the central town of Elad on Thursday night. The prisons ended an intense manhunt and allayed fears that the attackers might escape and strike again.
Authorities said the two suspects were captured alive and unarmed while hiding in the bush in the woods, not far from Elad, a predominantly Orthodox town. The Israeli police, military and internal security agency Shin Bet announced their arrest on Sunday morning and release pictures and video about the timing of the men’s arrest.
Thursday’s attack in Elad was the fifth terrorist attack in Israel since late March.
Police distributed the names and photos of the two suspects on Thursday night, identifying them as 19-year-old Asad Al Refai and 20-year-old Subhi Abu Shakir, both residents of the Palestinian village of Romana in the district Jenin north of the occupied West Bank.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks Amid clashes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at the premises of Al Aqsa Mosque, a holy site in Jerusalem also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount.
Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, has called on Palestinians and Israeli Arab citizens to attack Israelis. Days before the attack in Elad, Yehya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, warned that any further Israeli police attacks on the mosque compound would result in a response. In a fiery speech, he urged members of Israel’s Arab minority to “have your machete, your ax or your knife ready.”
In total, 19 people have been killed in Arab attacks since March 20.
Israel responded with a series of attacks in the occupied West Bank and nearly 30 Palestinians were killed.
One of the victims of Thursday’s ax attack in Elad, 35-year-old Oren Ben-Yiftah, a delivery man, was one of the victims of Thursday’s ax attack in Elad, Israeli officials said. give the attackers a ride from the border between Israel and the West Bank to the town. Ben-Yiftah, a father of six from Lod, Israel, seems to believe the couple will work in Elad.
After arriving in Elad, the assailants killed Mr. Ben-Yiftah in his car and then ran into a park to continue assaulting and terrorizing families celebrating Israel’s Independence Day. There, they killed Boaz Gol, 49, and Yonatan Havakuk, 44, of Elad, each with five children, and wounded several other men.
Myra Noveck Report contributions from Jerusalem.
