The terrorist who carried out the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem last week was sent to assassinate one of the yeshiva rabbis, the Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar reported Thursday. According to the report, based on Palestinian sources, the organization which sent the terrorist planned to assassinate one of the yeshiva heads, but after the shooter failed to find the rabbi, he opened fire at the students in the library. The rabbi's identity was not mentioned in the report. "The group behind the attack wanted to declare that it succeeded in killing the rabbi, but reconsidered this declaration after the shooter, Alaa Abu-Dheim, did not manage to kill him," one of the sources said, adding that the organizations had "a long score to settle with Israel."
The newspaper also reported that the Israeli government has asked the Palestinian Authority to hand over two members of the Islamic Jihad and Fatah's al-Aqsa Brigades suspected of helping Abu Dheim obtain the weapon he used to fire at the students.