Israeli Border Police officers conducted an arrest raid in Beita, near Nablus (Shechem), on Monday and apprehended a suspect in Saturday’s deadly terrorist attack.
The suspect is believed to have assisted the terrorist who murdered Shay Silas Nigrekar, 60, and his 28-year-old son, Aviad Nir. The Ashdod residents were shot at point-blank range at a car wash in the Palestinian Authority village of Huwara, which is adjacent to Nablus.
Following Monday’s arrest operation, which was carried out by undercover Border Police officers, PA Arabs in Beita clashed with security forces, Army Radio reported. Five Arabs were injured in the riots, including one seriously.
The Israel Defense Forces was continuing to search for the Huwara shooter.
Meanwhile, a 40-year-old Israeli woman was killed and a 39-year-old man was seriously wounded on Monday morning in a terrorist shooting near Hebron in Judea.
The slain woman was identified as Batsheva Nagari, a kindergarten teacher and mother of three from Beit Hagai, an Israeli community in the South Hebron Hills. The other victim, a man in his 30s, was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva.
In a statement, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed “militia” of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The IDF said that it was boosting security forces in Judea and Samaria following the shooting—deploying an additional infantry battalion and two companies. That will raise the number of battalions in Judea and Samaria to 23.
OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Yehuda Fox on Monday declared that Israel is “in the middle of an escalation, a terror wave, the likes of which we have not seen in a long time,” adding that “the IDF and security forces are operating daily in every area, to foil terror.
“We will chase down our enemies in Huwara and Hebron, and in any other place,” vowed Fox.
In recent months, Fox has come under fire from some members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, with Otzma Yehudit Party lawmaker Limor Son Har-Melech claiming that he “consistently ensures the welfare of Palestinian residents of Judea and Samaria, and [is] against Jewish residents.”
Netanyahu has defended the general, calling him an “admired officer who works tirelessly to defend all the citizens of Israel.”
