Barkan terrorist still at large

A month has passed since the deadly terrorist attack at the Barkan Industrial Zone in October, but despite the time that has passed and an intensive manhunt by Israel, security forces have yet to arrest the terrorist.

Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa, 23, from the Palestinian village of Shuweika near the West Bank city of Tulkarm, shot and killed two of his fellow employees on October 7 at the Alon Group factory in the industrial park.

Na’alwa had a permit to work at Barkan and had been employed as an electrician at the factory. He entered the factory at around 7 a.m. with a semi-automatic Carl Gustaf rifle hidden in his bag, which he left on the ground floor. He then fixed an electrical problem on the second floor, where he saw Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi already at work.

He then went downstairs to get handcuffs and his bag, and returned, fatally shooting his two fellow employees. Footage from security cameras captured Na’alwa running from the scene with the gun in his hand.

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) have been hunting for Na’alwa since the attack, so far with no success.

A senior IDF officer told Army Radio on Sunday that security forces had been close to capturing Na’alwa on several occasions but that he succeeded in escaping at the last minute. In addition, the officer said that Na’alwa does not use mobile phones or any other communications technology, making it more difficult for security forces to locate him.