Military maps for re-demolition the rebuilt homes of Sarona terrorists

Cousins Khaled, Mahmoud Mehamara killed 4, wounded 16 in TA market shooting

IDF soldiers mapped the homes of the terrorists who carried out a deadly attack at the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv in June 2016 in order to examine re-demolishing them.

The military demolished the homes of Khaled and Mahmoud Mehamara, two cousins from the West Bank village of Yatta south of Hebron, in August 2016 after they opened fire in the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv two months earlier.

The homes – Khaled’s being on the second floor of a building and Mohammed’s on the third floor of another building – were illegally rebuilt, and the IDF is now considering the option of demolishing them again.

“The residences were rebuilt without a permit after they were demolished on August 2016 by IDF troops following the order that was issued by the Commander of the Central Command. At the moment, the option to demolish the residences again is being examined,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

The Sarona Market attack, which occurred in June 2016, saw cousins Khaled and Muhammad Mehamara open fire on customers sitting at Max Brenner with submachine guns. Four people — Michael Feige, Ilana Naveh, Ido Ben Ari, and Mila Mishayev — were killed, and 16 others wounded.

The two fled but were almost immediately detained near the scene. Another accomplice, Younis Ayash Musa Zayn, was arrested shortly afterwards.

Zayn’s bedroom was sealed off in November 2016 “as recommended by the political echelon” and was carried out in cooperation with Border Police and the Civil administration. Zayn has been charged with “planning the attack, providing the weapons and ammunition used for training for it and carrying it out, and hiding [the guns] in his house,” an army statement said at the time.

An official indictment filed by the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor’s Office at the time stated that the two had been inspired by the Islamic State group, but that neither had been formally recruited or received training or assistance from the group.

IDF, Shin Bet (General Security Service) officials and Border Police officers meanwhile continued the hunt for the terrorists who carried out a drive-by shooting near the settlement of Ofra on Sunday night.

The manhunt in the Binyamin region in the West Bank “includes the use of various intelligence capabilities alongside the troops searching the field. Among other things, increased checks are being conducted at the area’s entrances and exits,” the military said adding that “the IDF will continue in its operation until the terrorists are apprehended.”