TEL AVIV, Israel (Washington Insider Magazine) – Two Palestinians were apprehended by Israeli authorities on Sunday after stabbing 3 individuals and fleeing the scene last week, prompting a large manhunt and putting the nation on edge.
According to ABC NEWS, the 2 assailants went on a stabbing spree in the ultra-Orthodox community of Elad on Israel’s Independence Day, murdering 3 people and wounding at least 4 more before fleeing.
The killing was the most recent in a slew of fatal attacks in the nation’s heartland in recent weeks. It happened when emotions between Palestinians and Israelis were already high due to violence at a key sacred site in Jerusalem that is significant to both Muslims and Jews.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, informed his Ministry that the battle on terror had entered a new phase, and that the government was forming a civilian national guard which would be mobilized in emergency scenarios like the ones the nation has seen in recent weeks.
The men, identified as 19 and 20-year-old Palestinians, were apprehended next to a quarry near Elad following a manhunt that started Thursday by commando units and special forces using choppers as well as other means, according to a joint statement from police, the military, and the Shin Bet internal security agency.
Masked security forces confronted the guys, who looked to be hiding under a green bush in a rocky piece of ground, according to images in Israeli media.
As police searched the region for the individuals, they warned the public to stay away and encouraged Israelis to report any strange vehicles or individuals.
The assailants were claimed to be from Jenin, in the disputed West Bank, which has resurfaced as a terrorist stronghold in the most recent wave of violence amid Israel in years. Jenin has produced some of the assailants in the current bloodshed.
In 5 assaults since March, at least 18 Israelis have been killed, including a stabbing spree in southern Israel, 2 fatal shootings in the Tel Aviv region, and a shooting this weekend in a West Bank community.
Nearly 30 Palestinians have been killed in violence, the majority of them were involved in assaults or clashes with Israeli police in the West Bank. However, an unarmed lady and 2 bystanders were also slain, and human rights groups claim Israel frequently employs disproportionate force.
Tensions at a Jerusalem hilltop site sacred to both Jews and Muslims, where Palestinians have lately battled with Israeli police, have fanned the bloodshed.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque complex is Islam’s third holiest place, and it is located on a hilltop that is also the holiest location for Jews, known as the Temple Mount. It is at the heart of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on an emotional level.