Islamic Jihad takes responsibility for deadly Samaria attack
The Islamic Jihad terror organization took responsibility for the attack in which Yehuda Dimentman was shot and killed and two other Israelis were injured on Thursday night in Samaria.
Masked militants of the Saraya al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, march in an anti-Israel rally in Gaza City. Gaza, May 29, 2021. Photo by Majdi Fathi/TPS
Israel’s security forces arrested on Saturday a number of residents of the village of Silat al-Khartiya, situated between Shechem (Nablus) and Jenin in Samaria, on suspicion of involvement in the attack, and shortly afterwards the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack and said that it was in retaliation for the killing od one if its operatives, Jamil Kiel of Shechem, by the IDF last week.
The detainees include Muhammad Jaradat, a senior Islamic Jihad official and a released prisoner. According to sources in the village, his son, Ibrahim, was also arrested. Another detainee is Ibrahim Taha’ina, also a released prisoner.
Muhammad Jaradat is the uncle of the brothers Rith, 17, and Omar Jaradat, 20, the main suspects in the attack. Their mother said in a video distributed on the networks that “if it turns out that my sons and brother were indeed involved in the attack, I will raise my head to the sky.”
The detainees also include Mahmoud Jaradat and Taher Abu Salah, and in the village, they claim that Majd Jaradat was also arrested. Majd is the son of Saleh Jaradat, who was assassinated by an IDF force in 2003.
Another detainee is Ibrahim Jaradat, and according to sources in the village, he is the brother of two terrorists who were killed and who himself was questioned as a suspect in granting asylum to Ahmad Jarrar, the terrorist who murdered Rabbi Raziel Shevach.
Over the weekend, senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad figures held a coordination meeting that was defined as “significant.” Those present, including the heads of the military branches, praised the escalation in the “resistance operations” in the Judea and Samaria and in Jerusalem. Those present discussed a number of proposals to strengthen coordination and cooperation and agreed to take action to increase activity between the military branches.
A source in the Gaza Strip said Sunday that this was a “coordination initiative with the encouragement of Iran.”
