Israeli stabbed and killed by Palestinian in West Bank IDF Kills Palestinian Terrorist

Israeli stabbed and killed by Palestinian in West Bank

Attacker took victim's firearm and shot at Border Police, who fired back, wounding and apprehending him. IDF: Militant killed was involved in recent rocket attack on Eilat.

By Gili Cohen | Apr.30, 2013 | 8:32 AM

Scene of stabbing attack at Tapuach Junction, April 30, 2013. 

Eviatar Borovzky, a 30-year-old resident of Yitzhar, was stabbed to death on Tuesday morning by a Palestinian at the Tapuach Junction in the northern West Bank. A short time later, IAF aircraft launched an air strike on the Gaza Strip that killed Haytham Al-Mishal, a 24-year-old resident of the Shati refugee camp who the IDF says was a Global Jihad militant.

Borovsky was attacked at the bus stop in Tapuach Junction. The attacker , a resident of Tul Karn, then took this firearm and began firing at a Border Police force nearby, who fired back, wounding the Palestinian. He was taken into custody for questioning.

Borovsky is the first Israeli to be killed in the West Bank since September 2011. His funeral will take place Tuesday afternoon in Kfar Hasidim, where his parents are buried.

Following the attack, a group of settlers from Yitzhar went down to Route 60 and began setting fields on fire, and throwing stones at a Palestinian school bus that was passing through.

Mishal, the militant killed in Tuesday's air strike, was involved in weapons production, according to the Shin Bet and the IDF. The air strike was the first targeted assassination since Operation Pillar of Defense in late 2012.

The IDF said on Tuesday that the target was a group of five militants who are suspected of involvement in the recent rocket attack on Eilat. It comes two days after Israel struck two targets in Gaza following rocket fire on the Sdot Negev region on Saturday night.

Following the fatal stabbing in the West Bank, coalition chair MK Yariv Levin said on Tuesday: "The terror attack in Tapuach Junction is the Palestinian response to John Kerry's new peace initiatives." Levin called on the IDF to immediately close off Tapuach Junction to Palestinians and reinstate the checkpoints.

Avi Roeh, Yesha Council chairman, said that "history proves that talk of concessions is the biggest producer of terror attack." 

Gershon Mesika, head of the Shomron Regional Council, said that security-related incidents at Tapuach Junction have recently increased five-fold. "Since opening the checkpoint the terrorists are moving around freely and no one is checking them," he said.

Last January, a Palestinian stabbed and wounded a 17-year-old Israeli at the same junction.

IAF kills Gaza militant in first targeted strike since Pillar of Defense

According to Israel, Hitham Ziyad Ibrahim Mishal, 24, was an expert in arms who worked with various terrorist groups.

By Gili Cohen | Apr.30, 2013 | 12:37 PM

The Israel Air Force killed a global jihad militant in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the first targeted assassination since Operation Pillar of Defensein 2012.

Hitham Ziyad Ibrahim Mishal, 24, was a resident of Shati, a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. According to the Shin Bet, Mishal was “a cornerstone of terrorism in the Gaza Strip, specializing in arms.” He is said to have manufactured, improved and traded in various weapons, especially rockets and improvised bombs, which he passed on to different terrorist groups in Gaza, both for economic profit and to promote terrorism. After the strike, the IDF called him “an expert in arms manufacturing who worked with all the terrorist outfits in the Gaza Strip.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel "targeted one of those involved in the criminal rocket fire on Eilat." "I had said we would respond," he said. "We will not accept continuous fire from the Gaza Strip and Sinai, and we will and are working to protect the State of Israel."

Army sources added that it is still unclear who else was wounded in the strike. In the five months since IDF concluded Operation Pillar of Defense, the air force has attacked the Gaza Strip twice: After rocket fire at the beginning of April, the air force attacked two tunnels in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. And, two days ago, the air force attacked two other targets – an arms depot and a terrorist facility – in the strip’s southern part. The IDF spokesperson said: “The IDF will continue to operate against anyone taking action to harm the citizens of Israel and its soldiers.”

Sources in the defense establishment noted that Mishal helped the organization called the Shura Council of the Mujahideen in the Outskirts of Jerusalem, which draws its inspiration from global jihad and was involved in a number of attacks, including the attack at the Israeli-Egyptian border in June that killed Said Fashapshe, a contract worker for the Defense Ministry. The Salafist organization, which identifies itself with al-Qaeda, was also responsible for the rocket fire from Sinai to Eilaton April 17. A source in the Shin Bet added that Mishal’s assassination was carried out “to prevent future attacks from the Gaza Strip and Sinai” planned by other terrorists. Sources in the defense establishment also noted that Mishal's terrorist activity “was certainly known to Hamas but it avoided taking action.”

April has been a month of rising security concerns in the areas of Israel adjacent to the Gaza Strip. At least 11 rockets and mortar bombs were fired at area settlements, and two rockets were fired on Eilat, coming on the heels of the volley of rocket, 14 in all, fired at the area during President Barack Obama’s visit in March. Fire of such scope on the south of Israel has not been experienced since the IDF operation last November.

Also on Tuesday, Israeli settler Eviatar Borovzky was stabbed to death by a Palestinian at the Tapuach Junction in the West Bank.

A group of settlers began rioting in the area following the attack. Six were arrested, including two teenaged girls, after trying to block a road close to the Yitzhar settlement.

 

Israeli settlers riot after West Bank terror attack, 6 arrested

Following fatal stabbing of Israeli at the Tapuach Junction, settlers from Yitzhar set Palestinian's fields on fire, throw stones at school bus; two Palestinian girls wounded.

By Chaim Levinson | Apr.30, 2013 | 2:23 PM

A group of Israelis rioted near the Yitzhar settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday, following a terror attack in which local settler Eviatar Borovzky was stabbed to death by a Palestinian.

The demonstrators tried to block a road close to the Yitzhar settlement, and some attempted to establish a tent encampment adjacent to the scene of the murder. Security forces stopped settlers from entering the Palestinian village of Yatma.

Protesters set fields on fire in the Palestinain villages of Burin and Hawara. They also threw stones at two Palestinian school buses that were driving through no Route 60, wounding two girls.

A resident of the settlement Elon Moreh was also attacked, after being mistakenly identified as a Palestinian. Upon being spotted, calls of "Arab, Arab," were issued and he was attacked by stone-throwers. The man was lightly wounded and received medical attention at the scene.

Yitzhar settlers also smashed the window of a mosque in the Palestinian village of Urif and tried to set it on fire.

Six settlers have been arrested, including two teenage girls.

During a confrontation at Tapuah Junction, IDF Colonel Yoav Yarom, commander of Samaria Brigade, was at one point surrounded by protesters. His attempts to grab one them were thwarted by the crowd.

Firefighters deployed to the area reported several instances in which settlers tried to prevent them from putting the fires out, but they managed to continue with their operations.

Borovsky is the first Israeli to be killed in the West Bank since September 2011.