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Israeli security has arrested the terrorist cell suspected of carrying out a deadly West Bank shooting last week, the Shin Bet security agency said Sunday morning.
Six suspects were arrested in a night-time raid on the village of Silat al-Harithiya in the northern West Bank near Jenin by the Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Police Yamam counterterrorism unit. They were all handed over to the Shin Bet for questioning.
Two of them were believed to have been behind the shooting itself, while the others were believed to have helped or otherwise implicated in the cell, IDF spokesman Ron Kochav told reporters on Sunday morning.
Kochav said the Israeli security services plan to interview the suspects and extract information that would help prevent future attacks, indicating that they were members of a larger organization. Although the spokesperson said he could not immediately comment on the suspects’ connection to terrorist groups.
The suspects were arrested without incident around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. They had been dispersed to several houses in the village, officials said.
The Shin Bet said troops also recovered weapons suspected of having been used in Thursday’s attack, as well as at least one that was in the cell’s possession, including two M-16 rifles and one. Carlo-style submachine gun, a locally produced makeshift product. armed. Police then released pictures of the guns.
A photo released by Israel Police on December 19, 2021 shows weapons believed to have been used in a deadly terrorist attack near the Homesh outpost in the West Bank. (Israel Police)
“Security forces will continue to work to bring those involved in terrorist activities to justice,” a statement from the Shin Bet said.
Israeli forces carried out intensive searches in the northern West Bank for several days after the attack, in which Yehuda Dimentman was killed and two others slightly injured.
They came under fire as they left the Homesh outpost. A military official said their car was ambushed from the side of the road.
Yehuda Dimentman. (Courtesy)
Dimentman was a student at a yeshiva, or religious school, near where the attack took place. Homesh is a settlement that was to be abandoned as part of a 2005 eviction, but is now the site of the illegally operated yeshiva.
The 25-year-old was the father of a nine-month-old son and lived in the West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron.
Three battalions of infantry troops, as well as special forces and intelligence units, were deployed to the West Bank after the attack, as the military, Shin Bet security services and Israeli police searched the area. the search for the attackers.
Hundreds of people attended his funeral, which started at Homesh. Praise was delivered there and a procession then visited the scene of the attack before proceeding to the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem, where Dimentman was buried.
The military and police forces strongly secured the event.
Family and friends attend Yehuda Dimentman’s funeral in Jerusalem on December 17, 2021. Dimentman was shot dead in a terrorist attack on December 16. (Noam Revkin Fenton / Flash90)
In response to the attack, settlers set up a makeshift structure near Kiryat Arba in the southern West Bank, with the aim of establishing a new outpost, named after the victim.
Hours later, the building was dismantled by police and a dozen settlers were evacuated from the top of the hill near Highway 60. Two were briefly detained in the middle of the evacuation, the site reported. Ynet information.
Palestinian terror groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine welcomed Thursday’s attack, but did not take responsibility for it.
The past few weeks have seen an increase in Palestinian terrorist attacks, four of which took place in Jerusalem alone, including a fatal shooting by a member of Hamas.
There has also been a notable increase in settler violence against Palestinians.
Group of extremist settlers assaulted Palestinians and vandalized property in West Bank village near Nablus overnight On Thursday, Palestinian media reported on Friday, hours after the attack.