IDF to partially demolish home of killer wanted for Barkan attack
Na’alwa still on the run a month after deadly shooting attack claimed two Israelis’ lives
The IDF has ordered the partial demolition of the home of the terrorist responsible for the deadly shooting attack in the Barkan industrial zone last month.
On Tuesday, the Head of the IDF’s Central Command, Maj.-Gen. Nadav Padan issued the demolition orders for two stories of the home where Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa lived in the West Bank village of Shweika near Tulkarm.
According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the order was signed after a request made by the attacker’s family against the demolition order was rejected.
Nevertheless, the home will remain partially intact, with the demolition being limited to the basement and ground floor of the building.
In early October, 23-year-old Naalwa shot dead Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel, 29, of Rosh Ha’ayin, and Ziv Hagbi, 35, from Rishon Lezion. He is also suspected of shooting a third woman, seriously injuring her.
Na’alwa had a permit to work at the Barkan park, where he had been employed as an electrician for the past seven months at a factory run by the Alon Group. He allegedly forced an Arab employee to tie up the two victims before shooting them and fleeing the scene with the Carl-Gustav weapon he used.
Following the attack, troops from the Menashe regional brigade mapped the building ahead of a possible demolition order.
The Border Police’s counter-terrorism Yamam unit; troops from the IDF’s elite Duvdevan, Lotar and Oketz units; and Shin Bet forces are participating in the manhunt for Na’alwa, who is still on the run.
According to intelligence officers quoted by Israeli media, it is assumed that he is preparing to engage troops in a firefight if he is found.
While there have been significantly less vehicular attacks as well as stabbings and shooting attacks toward IDF forces and Israeli civilians in the West Bank, they remain a significant threat.
Also on Tuesday, the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security forces announced that Israel thwarted 480 terror attacks over the course of the year.
“In the past year we have managed to thwart 480 attacks, arrested 219 Hamas cells and thwarted 560 attempts by lone terrorists. We also succeeded in thwarting cyber attacks and espionage against Israel,” said Nadav Argaman during a security assessment in front of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
According to Argaman, the reality in the West Bank is “very deceptive” with Hamas trying to carry out terror attacks with guidance from Gaza, Turkey and Lebanon.
“In the West Bank, the reality is very complex. We can discern a relative calm, but this quiet is deceptive; underneath the surface, the area is bubbling – Hamas is trying with all its might to carry out attacks,” he said, adding that “the reality in the West Bank in which Israeli citizens are able to live their lives is the result of the very strenuous activity of the entire Israeli security establishment.”