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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan | ||
| Terrorists responsible for Elad ax murders have been captured | ||
| 2022-05-09 | ||
| May 8 (UPI) -- Two men accused of killing three people in an attack in the Israeli city of Elad were arrested by Israeli forces Sunday, security officials said. The two suspects, 19-year-old As'ad Yousef As'ad al-Rifa'i and 20-year-old Subhi Emad Sbeihat, were arrested in a forested area near Elad, Israel Defense Forces, Shin Bet security agency and Israel police said in a joint statement. "A joint team spotted the two suspicious figures near a quarry," the joint statement said. The men were unarmed at the time of the arrest but axes used in the attack were later found by security forces nearby.
Al-Rifa’i confessed to security forces that he committed the axe attack with Sbeihat, killing Oren Ben Yiftah, a 35-year-old driver from Lod, and Elad residents Yonatan Havakuk and Boaz Gol, both in their 40s. The Israeli military said Sunday that troops were operating in Rummanah, the hometown of two suspects, in order to map out their residences ahead of a potential demolition. Israel regularly demolishes the homes of Paleostinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks as a matter of policy.
Oren Ben Yiftah, who drove a pair of Paleostinian turbans to Elad before they murdered him and proceeded to kill two others, was part of a WhatsApp group that organized the ferrying of illegal Paleostinian workers, Channel 12 reports. Tens of thousands of Paleostinians are estimated to cross the security barrier illegally to work in Israel. The IDF has sought to crack down on the phenomenon during the recent wave of attacks, after long turning a blind eye due to the belief that there was a joint Israeli and Paleostinian interest in allowing in cheap labor. Yiftah received a message on the day of the attack updating him that two Paleostinians had crossed illegally from the West Bank and were waiting for a ride, Channel 12 says. | ||
| Posted by:Lord Garth |