Israeli troops kill man suspected in drive-by shooting death of West Bank rabbi

JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — A Palestinian man was killed and two Israeli soldiers injured in a night-time raid in Jenin in the West Bank to capture the man responsible for the drive-by shooting death of an Israeli rabbi.

Hamas and the Palestinian health ministry identified the man killed in the late Wednesday night raid as Ahmed Nasser Jarrar, 22, the son of a senior West Bank Hamas official killed in 2002.  Jarrar is believed to be behind the attack that killed Rabbi Raziel Shevach of the Gilad Farms outpost, who was shot as he drove his car near the Gilad Farms outpost in the northern West Bank earlier this month.

Jarrar’s family on Thursday issued a statement that their son was alive, and the Palestinian health ministry later corrected themselves and said that Ahmad Ismail Muhammad Jarrar, 31, was the killed Palestinian man.

The Israel Defense Forces did not identify the man they killed, simply saying in a statement that one suspect was killed and others arrested.

During the raid, Palestinian in Jenin threw explosives, rocks and shot guns at the Israeli troops, who used riot-dispersal measures, including live fire, according to the IDF.

Hamas said in a statement that “the heroes in Jenin broke the equation of surrender that Israel has tried to impose on the Palestinians in the West Bank.”

Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhari also said: “The Jenin cell is not the first cell and won’t be the last and the criminal role of the security coordination will not succeed in thwarting the resistance to the occupation, dealing with Trump’s Jerusalem declaration and protecting Al-Quds (Jerusalem).”

Shevach, 35 and a father of 6, was shot Jan. 9 by a passing car near Nablus, in the northern West Bank, while he was driving near the Gilad Farm junction after performing a bris in another community.

The military wing of the terrorist group Hamas reportedly praised the attack in a statement, but did not take responsibility for the drive-by shooting at the time.