Barkan: Two Israelis shot dead – the timeline
A man and a woman were shot dead Sunday morning in a terrorist attack at the Barkan Industrial Zone, close to the town of Ariel in northern Samaria.
Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel Photo: Facebook
A third person, a woman in her fifties, was seriously wounded.
The terrorist attack reportedly took place in management offices in one of the factories. Security footage released from cameras at the factory shows the shooter fleeing the site holding an automatic rifle. The deceased female victim was bound with plastic cable ties.
The industrial zone is known as a place where Israelis and Arabs work together in coexistence, and this is the first such attack in the zone. According to a statement from the IDF, the terrorist had a permit to work in the park and had been employed at the factory where the shooting took place.
According to initial reports, the suspect, a 23-year-old Palestinian from the village of Shweika near Tulkarem, who fled the scene, had been fired by the Alon Metal factory, leading to speculation that the attack was a revenge killing. However, the IDF later clarified that it was a terrorist attack, although he may have had other motives.
Later in the day, the Palestinian branch of Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the attack. It claimed that it was “a response to Israel’s crimes in Gaza, Jerusalem, Khan al-Ahmar and al-Aqsa.”
A spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said: “We call upon our people to rise up against the settlement terror until they are evacuated, and the West Bank is freed of settlements and settlers.”
Zic Chagbi. Photo: Facebook
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that “the IDF and security forces are conducting a wide scale search for the terrorist … it is only a matter of time before we lay our hands on him.”
The woman who was killed at the Barkan Industrial Park has been named as 28-year-old Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel.
She was from Rosh Ha’ayin and she was a wife, as well as a mother to a small son.
It’s believed that she had been bound with plastic cable ties before being shot at point-blank range by the terrorist.
The second victim of the Barkan Industrial Zone terrorist attack has been named as Ziv Chagbi.
He was a 35-year-old husband and father of three children who resided in Rishon LeZion.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened Sunday morning’s government meeting by addressing the terror attack that took place on Sunday morning and took the lives of two Israelis:
“This is a very serious terror attack, in which two Israelis were brutally murdered and a third injured. Security forces are in pursuit of the vile murderer. I am sure they will catch him, and I am sure we will bring him to justice. I would like to send condolences to the families of the two victims, as well as our prayers for a speedy recovery to the wounded victim.”
Timeline:
Police, IDF forces and Paramedics at the scene of the shooting attack at the Barkan Industrial Park near Ariel, in which two Israelis were shot and murdered and one was injured, by a Palestinian terrorist. Barkan, Oct 7, 2018. Photo by Hillel Maeir/TPS
08:10 Three people were hurt, two critically in a shooting in the Barkan industrial zone near Ariel in Samaria, at around 7:50 Sunday morning.
08:15 Police and IDF forces are conducting searches for the shooter.
08:20 According to initial reports, the shooter is known to be a Palestinian from the town of Qalqilya and is known to security forces.
08:35 Magen David Adom paramedics say they arrived at the scene and found two people – a man and woman in their thirties- unconscious and suffering from gunshot wounds. A third victim, a woman in her fifties, was in serious condition after she too was shot.
08:40 A security source told TPS that initial reports suggested the shooting had been planned in advance and that the shooter was a 21-year-old Palestinian resident of Qalqilya who worked at the metal factory where the shooting took place. The source added that all avenues were being investigated including both criminal and terrorist motivations for the attack. Other reports suggested the suspect had been fired some two months ago.
08:46 Head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan arrived at the site of Sunday morning’s attack in the Barkan industrial area, which left three injured.
“This is a very serious event, in a very large factory in Israel, which exports a lot abroad. This is an industrial area where about 4,000 Israeli Jews and 4,000 Palestinians have been working together for decades – a bridge of co-existence. It only shows how much this terrorism is murderous to both Jews and Arabs, that is the barbarism of fundamental Islamic terror,” Dagan told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
“We will never break. The Zionism in the Samaria, as well as every other place in Israel is strong. We will build the land of Israel. We will build schools and neighbourhoods and towns, as well as a thriving industry which exports to the entire world. This is a very difficult event. We will gather our strength. We will never break. We can see here Jewish and Arab workers together, crying together, in trauma of this event – That only emphasizes how absurd this blind murderous rage is. We will never break.”
09:04 An IDF spokesman said security forces were conducting a wide scale sweep for the suspect. The background to the incident was as yet unclear and all avenues were being investigated, the spokesman said.
09:12 Channel 10 News reported that one of the victims was reported to be a senior executive at the factory and the shooting took place at management offices, strengthening suspicions that the attack may have been a revenge shooting.
10:52 Israeli authorities have deemed the incident a terrorist attack
10:55 Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman tweeted: “The IDF and security forces are conducting a wide-scale search for the terrorist … it is only a matter of time before we lay our hands on him.”
11:00 A man and a woman have been confirmed dead in the incident
11:05 Security footage released from cameras at the factory shows the shooter fleeing the site holding an automatic rifle.
11:10 The Palestinian Islamic Jihad have taken responsibility for the attack, claiming it was “a response to Israel’s crimes in Gaza, Jerusalem, Khan al-Ahmar and al-Aqsa,” a spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement said Sunday afternoon, “We call upon our people to rise up against the settlement terror until they are evacuated, and the West Bank is freed of settlements and settlers,” he added.
11:30 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu: “This is a very serious terror attack, in which two Israelis were brutally murdered and a third injured. Security forces are in pursuit of the vile murderer. I am sure they will catch him, and I am sure we will bring him to justice. I would like to send condolences to the families of the two victims, as well as our prayers for a speedy recovery to the wounded victim.”
11:45 Israeli President Reuven ‘Ruvi’ Rivlin: “I am shocked and saddened by this morning’s terrible terrorist attack at the Barkan industrial area. Our hearts are with the families of those who were killed, and our prayers are with those who are injured. This was not only an attack on innocent people going about their daily lives, it was also an attack on the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians co-existing peacefully. I call on the Palestinian leadership to condemn this murderous attack and to use the forces at their disposal to capture the terrorist and those who aided him.”
12:00 Israeli Interior Minister Arye Deri has called for swift action by security forces “to bring justice to those murdered.”
“Our hearts are with the families of the victims. The abhorrent hatred and murder will only strengthen us,” he said.
