Israeli forces kill shooter of IDF soldier, rabbi near Ariel
Israeli special units have shot dead a Palestinian suspected of stabbing and killing 19-year-old Sgt. Gal Keidan, stealing his gun and using it to fire at Israeli soldier Alexander Dvorsky and Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger outside the city of Ariel on Sunday.
Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers on the hunt for the suspected terrorist behind the March 17, 2019 terrorist attack outside of Ariel that led to the deaths of an IDF soldier and an a rabbi. Credit: IDF Spokesperson Unit.
The Shin Bet announced the development.
Omar Amin Abu Lila, 19, was killed during a shootout with Israeli forces in Abwein, a village just outside Ramallah, after the special units surrounded the house where he was hiding.
No Israelis were hurt in the mission.
As of Tuesday morning, Dvorsky, who is being treated at Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah, showed significant improvement and is considered to be out of immediate danger.
Despite being shot in the neck and head, Ettinger, a 47-year-old yeshivah dean and father of 12 from Eli, turned his car around and begin firing at Abu Laila with his personal sidearm in the hopes of neutralizing the ongoing threat to passersby.
Ettinger was also evacuated to Beilinson, but succumbed to his wounds on Monday morning. He was buried in Petach Tikvah in a funeral attended by more than 1,000 people, including students from his yeshivah, Oz V’Emunah in the Neve Sha’anan neighbourhood of South Tel Aviv.
Abu Laila’s father and brother were arrested in connection with the attack.
Kaidan was buried in the military cemetery of Beersheva on Monday by his parents, who are immigrants to Israel from the former Soviet Union, and his two older brothers.
Photo: Haim Zac/GPO
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a condolence call to the family of Rabbi Achiad Ettinger in Eli.
He said: “The shock is enormous. From what I have heard about Achiad, he was an amazing person, a man of valour with nobility of soul. The pain over your loss is immense; I understand how deep it is. But I want you to know that it is a shock to the heart of the entire people.”
He later told media: “I congratulate the ISA, Israel Police special anti-terror unit and the IDF on the quick action that led to the elimination of the abhorrent terrorist who murdered Sgt. Gal Keidan and Rabbi Achiad Ettinger.
The long arm of Israel reaches all those who attack our civilians and our soldiers.”
JNS/J-Wire
