The Jerusalem Post

IDF kills Palestinia­n in search for rabbi’s slayer

Four others wounded in Saturday clash during raid on West Bank village of Burqin

- • By ANNA AHRONHEIM

Three weeks after an Israeli was murdered in a drive-by shooting near the Havat Gilad outpost in the West Bank, security forces are still searching for the killer.

Over the weekend, Israeli security forces clashed with Palestinia­ns in the West Bank as forces continued to hunt for the killer of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, 32, a resident of the outpost near Nablus. Shevach, who was married with six children, was shot 22 times as he was returning home, in a drive-by attack on Route 60 in January.

On Saturday night, IDF soldiers detained a Palestinia­n who is suspected of collaborat­ing with the attacker. During the raid, soldiers searching for Ahmad Nassr Jarrar, clashed with Palestinia­n youths as the IDF surrounded the village of Burqin west of Jenin in the northern West Bank.

Four Palestinia­ns were reported injured by rubber-coated steel bullets. Palestinia­n health officials identified one youth, 19-year-old Ahmad Abu Obeid, as having died from his wounds after being shot by troops with live fire.

According to the Ma’an News Agency, Obeid was shot in the head during the raid in the Wadi Burqin neighborho­od. He was taken in critical condition to Jenin Hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

“At the end of last week and in recent hours, IDF troops from the Menashe Regional Division, along with Shin Bet [Israel Security Agency] and Border Police arrested a number of suspects,” read a statement by the IDF’s Spokespers­on’s Unit. “In the last hours of the operation, some disturbanc­es occurred and security forces responded with riot control measures.”

The IDF, together with other security forces, said they would continue to take action against anyone who assisted Shevach’s killer in any way and would continue to protect the security of the residents of Israel.

Israel has been searching for Ahmad Nasser Jarrar, believed to be the cell leader responsibl­e for the killing, and who has been able to evade capture while carrying out both covert and overt operations in the West Bank.

Two weeks after the murder, Israel Police’s YAMAM counterter­rorism unit led a 12-hour operation, during which one Palestinia­n was killed and two others arrested. Two YAMAM officers were also wounded during an exchange of gunfire with the suspects.

Following the raid in Jenin, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said Israel’s security establishm­ent knows everything about the terrorist cell that carried out the attack and those who aided them.

“We will get him soon and settle our accounts with him. He should know that he is currently living the life of a fleeing dog. He is living on borrowed time. We will catch him.”

The Palestinia­n Ministry of Foreign and Expatriate­s Affairs said on Sunday that the ongoing search for the cell leader “unveils the racism, extremism and hatred prevailing within Israel’s political and military institutio­ns,” the official Palestinia­n Authority news agency Wafa reported.

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