Israel raids Palestinian village on lookout for shooting suspect

The raid comes after two Israelis were fatally shot near a settlement and a third was wounded.

2 min read

08 October, 2018

Israeli forces after demolishing a printing house

Israeli forces after demolishing a Palestinian printing house [Getty]

Israeli forces raided a Palestinian village and made arrests on Monday over the killing of two Israelis, the army said in a statement.

The assailant, the 23-year-old Ashraf Naalwa, remains at large. He hails from the northern West Bank village of Shuweika and allegedly carried out the Sunday attack in the industrial area of Barkan.

Soldiers, as well as police and Shin Bet internal security officers "operated in the village of Shuweika, north of Tulkarm, from which the terrorist originated," the military said.

It said security forces "arrested" an unspecified number of people "suspected of aiding the terrorist" while a manhunt for the gunman was still underway.

A spokesman for the Shin Bet said they had arrested Naalwa's brother, while his sister was "detained, questioned and released", declining to provide further details.

Naalwa was employed at the same plant in the northern West Bank site as his two victims -- Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, and Ziv Hagbi, 34.

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The industrial zone is located next to the Israeli settlement Barkan and near the settlement of Ariel in the north of the West Bank.

Palestinians work side by side with Israelis in the industrial zone.

A third woman also shot in the attack was hospitalised in stable condition.

Naalwa used a homemade gun, known locally as a "Carlo", according to the army, in what security forces believe was a "lone-wolf attack".

A wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis broke out in 2015, but they have since become sporadic.

Israel has occupied the West Bank illegally since 1967, committing various crimes against Palestinian civilians including attacks on mosques, churches, property and agriculture.

More than 600,000 Israeli Jews live in settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, in constructions considered illegal under international law.

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