BICOM

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) arrested 19 Palestinians connected to the attacker who killed two Israelis in the Barkan Industrial Park on Sunday.

This morning, Israeli soldiers entered Shuweika, north of Tulkarem, home of 23-year-old Ashraf Walid Suleiman Neloah who killed Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, and Ziv Hajbi, 35. Neloah entered the Alon Group offices in the Barkan Industrial Park, near Ariel, armed with a locally produced submachine gun. He handcuffed Yehezkel and shot her at close range. He then shot a second female victim, 54, in the stomach, moderately wounding her, before shooting Hajbi.

The IDF said: “IDF and Shin Bet troops will continue to work to catch the terrorist and to preserve the security of the region’s residents, with an increased operational and intelligence effort.” The Israeli Border Police counter terrorism special unit Yamam, the elite Duvdevan unit, the counterterrorism Lotar unit, and the IDF’s Oketz Unit, as well as Shin Bet forces and Central Command and West Bank Brigade soldiers, are taking part in the search for the attacker.

Thousands of people attended the funeral of Yehezkel yesterday. She had recently celebrated her third wedding anniversary and is survived by her husband, Guy, and their 18-month-old son. Hajbi was also married with three children. Communications Minister Ayoob Kara said at the funeral for Yehezkel: “I am here on behalf of the government to express my condolences to the devoted husband and the baby, who will not have the fortune of seeing his mother ever again.” Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt strongly condemned the deaths of the two Israelis, saying: “My thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families.”

Presidet Revuen Rivlin said: “This was not only an attack on innocent people going about their daily lives, it was also an attack on the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians coexisting peacefully. I call on the Palestinian leadership to condemn this murderous attack and to use the forces at their disposal to capture the terrorist and those who aided him.”

Hamas praised the attack, calling it “a new chapter in the struggle of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and a message to the young people of the West Bank and Gaza who are under siege”.

The Barkan Industrial Zone consists of 180 factories employing 8,000 workers, half of whom are Palestinians. More than 30,000 Palestinian employees have permits to work in industrial sites across the West Bank.