Two Israelis were killed, and another moderately wounded, in what the IDF said was a terror attack in a West Bank industrial zone by a Palestinian suspect who went on a shooting spree, before fleeing the scene. The suspect was identified as 23-years-old Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa from the Palestinian village of Shweiki, which is located near the West Bank town Tulkarem. According to an initial investigation into the deadly attack, the terrorist arrived at a factory in the Barkan industrial zone, where he reportedly worked as an electrician for the past seven months. The suspect then entered the factory’s offices and shot two Israeli employees at “point-blank”, including 28-years-old Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and 35-years-old Ziv Hagbi. After murdering the two Israeli civilians, the terrorist apparently sought to flee the scene when he identified another employee, a 54-years-old woman, and fired in her direction, severely wounding her. According to Tomer Fine an Israeli MADA Paramedic, “We found two 30-year-old man and woman with multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso, we conducted preliminary examination and after a short while we had to declare them dead. While searching for other victims, we found another woman with few gunshot wounds to the upper torso as well, that she hid under one of the table in the scene.” It is important to note that the wounded woman was evacuated to the Beilinson Hospital at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikvah in severe condition after enduring a gunshot to her stomach. After undergoing surgery, doctors managed to stabilize her, and she is no longer in a life-threatening condition.
Israeli Security forces are conducting an extensive manhunt to capture the assailant, who managed to flee the scene. The IDF spokespersons unit released a statement, saying: “IDF troops arrived at the house of the assailant, located in the village of Shuweika, north of Tulkarm, and surveyed the residence. In addition, the troops apprehended, and questioned Palestinians suspected of assisting the terrorist.” The statement further read, “IDF and ISA forces will continue to operate in order to apprehend the assailant and ensure the safety of the civilians in the area, while increasing the intelligence and operational efforts.”
Meanwhile in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the heinous terror attack at the opening of his weekly cabinet meeting by saying: “This was a very severe terrorist attack in which two Israelis were brutally murdered and a third citizen was also wounded. The security forces are in pursuit of the reprehensible murderer. I am certain that they will apprehend him, and I am also certain that we will deal with him to the fullest extent of the law and quickly. On behalf of myself and all government ministers I would like to send condolences to the families of the two people who were murdered and our hopes and prayers for a swift recovery for the wounded.”
While the Jewish state mourns its dead, the Islamist Hamas organization in Gaza hailed the attack as ‘a show of Palestinian unity in resistance against Israel.’ Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassim, stated that “Hamas blesses this guerrilla operation which took place in Nablus this morning. This operation affirms that the rebelling young people in the West Bank are keeping the resistance as an option and are sticking to resist against the (Israeli) occupation and the settlers. It also comes as a reaction to their (Israelis) crimes against our sacred sites and the demolishing of the Palestinian villages. And it sends a great message from the rebelling people in the West Bank to their rebelling brothers in the Gaza Strip who are holding great return marches to break the siege. The message says that we are one nation and we face the same destiny.”