IDF forces that raided the home of an Arab who carried out a deadly stabbing attack in Jaffa also made preparations for demolishing it, locals said.
The terrorist, 22-year-old Bashar Masalha, murdered US citizen Taylor Allen Force and seriously injured a dozen other people, before being shot dead by police.
Locals told the Bethlehem-based Ma’an news service that the IDF raided the Masalha family home in Hajja before dawn Wednesday, and then took measurements of the home. The village is located in Samaria, not far from Kfar Saba in central Israel.
Ma’an said Hajja was sealed by military forces following the attack late Tuesday, as was the village of al-Zawiya, after 17-year-old resident Abd Al-Rahman Radad stabbed and injured a Jewish man in Petah Tikvah.
The IDF confirmed to Ma’an that Hajja and al-Zawiya were still closed Wednesday evening following “security assessments” of the area. No one was allowed to enter or exit the villages, with the exception of humanitarian cases, according to the army spokesperson.
IDF video showed soldiers detaining suspects in Hajja and carrying out searches for illegal weapons. Forces faced some resistance from rioters, who set fires in a bid to prevent soldiers from reaching their objectives.
Binyamin Netanyahu’s government finds itself under heavy public pressure in Israel, as the Arab terror war that began last October continues unabated, and the military fails to find an effective way to stop it. Most of the terror attacks appear to be spontaneous and are therefore very hard to prevent. Meanwhile, the incitement that encourages Arabs to carry out attacks continues as well.
Demolition of the homes of terrorists is among the few punitive and deterrent measures left to the military, but the PA reportedly assists the affected families in rebuilding their homes. Other measures, like sealing off communities for long periods of time, have led self-described “human rights” groups to accuse Israel of collective punishment.
Last month the Palestinian village of Qabatiya was sealed for three days after three residents of the town carried out a deadly attack in Jerusalem.
