The IDF and Shin Bet have confirmed the elimination of Ahmed Barakat, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist behind a deadly shooting attack last year in Judea and Samaria.
Barakat was killed in a targeted air strike while riding in a vehicle with three other terrorists in the Palestinian Authority terrorist hotbed city of Jenin.
The terrorist was responsible for the murder of Meir Tamari, a Jewish husband and father of two who was living with his family in the northern Samaria community of Hermesh.
An Israel Air Force aircraft attacked the vehicle in which Barakat and a second senior Islamic Jihad terrorist, Muhammad Hawashin, were riding together with two other terrorists. All four were eliminated. Hawashin was a commander of the local Islamic Jihad branch in Jenin.
“The two terrorists who were attacked were also promoting significant terrorist acts and attacks against the citizens of Israel at the present time,” the Shin Bet said in a statement.
“The two were behind the attempt to carry out a terror attack in the heart of Israel, which was thwarted on March 11, and directed the bombing attack carried out against IDF forces on March 8, in which seven soldiers were wounded near the Homesh Junction.”
Tamari, age 32, was murdered on May 30, 2023, in a drive-by shooting attack perpetrated by Arab terrorists on the road near his home.
Severely wounded in his car, Tamari nevertheless managed to continue driving until he reached the entrance to the community, where he received initial treatment by Magen David Adom and IDF paramedics. He was rushed by helicopter in serious condition to the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera but despite the efforts of the medical team, he succumbed to his wounds.
Tamari, who was living in Hermesh since his marriage four years earlier. He will be laid to rest on Wednesday, 31 May, at the cemetery in the settlement of Shaked in northern Samaria. He was survived by his wife and two young children, ages one and three.
“The IDF and the Shin Bet will continue to work to remove any threat and thwart terrorist infrastructures that work to carry out murderous attacks and will also take into account those that will harm the citizens of Israel,” the Shin Bet pledged.
