IDF kills Ofra terrorist suspect

Search continues in West Bank for Hamas cell

The IDF killed a Palestinian man in a firefight in a village outside of Ramallah on Wednesday night and arrested suspects linked to Hamas, as it continued to comb the West Bank in search of the terrorist cell that wounded seven Israeli civilians at a bus stop outside of the Ofra settlement earlier this week.

“The murderers are abhorrent, the most deviant criminals on earth,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The security forces are pursuing them, and I hope that there will be news soon on this matter. We will not slacken until we find them and deal with them to the fullest extent of the law.”

A spokesperson for the Shin Bet confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that security officers engaged Palestinian suspects in a firefight outside Ramallah, which resulted in the death of one of them. The spokesperson would not comment on whether the firefight and the subsequent death of the Palestinian were linked to the search for the terror cell.

According to Palestinian sources, the IDF arrested Wa’ed Barghouti and Saleh Omar Barghouti, who is the son of a West Bank Hamas leader, Omar Barghouti. He is not the same Omar Barghouti who leads the Palestinian BDS movement.

The sources said that Saleh was arrested when IDF soldiers intercepted a cab he was riding in, while the second Palestinian was arrested separately shortly afterward.

According to initial reports, Saleh was seriously wounded and may have died in custody. Both men are from a village called Kobar. The IDF reportedly raided the home of Omar Barghouti after the shooting.

Eyewitnesses also reported that an elite Israeli military unit surrounded a building located a few hundred meters away from the Mukata presidential compound in Ramallah.

Earlier in the evening, the four-day-old baby boy born prematurely after his mother Shira Ish-ran was wounded in the Ofra attack, died.

Yesha Council head Israel Ganz called on Netanyahu to act against terror infrastructure in the West Bank so as to deter future attacks.

“Nothing will bring the dead baby back to his mother and his people, but we ask you to restore our national honor, to restore our personal security,” Ganz said.

He also called on the prime minister to double the size of the Ofra settlement, and to increase building in general in the communities in Judea and Samaria. •