IDF Raids Village of Terrorist Who Murdered Yotam Ovadia, Hy”d

YERUSHALAYIM
Israeli security forces at the scene of a stabbing attack in Adam, on Thursday. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

IDF forces operated over the weekend in the village of Kubar, the home village of Mohammed Tarek, the 17-year-old Arab terrorist who murdered 31-year-old Yotam Ovadia, Hyd, on Thursday. During the operation, IDF troops searched homes in the village, made arrests, and seized cash set to be used for terror attacks. Arabs rioted during the activity, throwing slabs of rocks, bricks and other heavy items at soldiers.

The stabbing Thursday in the Binyamin town of Adam took the life of Ovadia, a resident of Adam. A 58-year-old Israeli man was seriously injured in the incident. His situation was improved Friday morning, doctors said. A third Israeli was lightly injured by the stabber, and he was released from the hospital early Friday. Witnesses said that Ovadia, a father of two, was killed after he struggled with Tarek, preventing him from entering homes and delaying his advancement after he snuck into the town on his way to murder Jews.

Tarek was eliminated by another resident of Adam, Assaf Ravid. Speaking to Yediot Acharonot, Ravid said that he heard screams as he was riding his bicycle in a park in Adam. “I rode towards the screaming and came upon the terrorist. He pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the shoulder. I ran and succeeded in taking out my handgun. I shot him but he kept advancing, so I shot him two more times, and he then fell. I realized it was either him or me,” he said.

Tarek had made no secret of his radical terrorist views, posting numerous times on social media that he intended to murder Israelis. Before leaving his village of Kubar on Thursday to commit the stabbing act that led to the death of a an Israeli, he wrote that “we Palestinians have an enemy and they must be harmed. Those who have weapons look aside at the suffering of the Palestinians. They are traitors,” he wrote in one of numerous social media posts expressing similar thoughts. “We need to remember that we have an enemy that must be harmed. We must prove that our blood is not cheap. We must prevent the Jews from going up to Al-Aqsa (Har HaBayis). We need to use our bullets and put them into the bodies of our enemies, remembering that the children in Gaza were suffering.”

Kubar is the same town that Omar Abed Al-Jalil lived in. Al-Jalil last year murdered three members of the Salomon family in the town of Chalamish, taking the lives of Yosef Salomon, his daughter Chaya and son Elad, Hyd, in a stabbing spree. Al-Jalil’s stabbing spree was halted when an off-duty IDF soldier who lived across the street rushed into the Salomon home after hearing screams coming from the house. He opened fire and hit al-Jalil, injuring him moderately. Elad Salomon’s wife Michal was able to take refuge in an inner room in the house, protecting her five children from the murderer. Officials are trying to determine if Al-Jalil’s murder inspired Tarek to undertake a similar attack.

In light of the attack, IDF officials over the weekend decided to increase security in Jewish towns and on roads where Israelis traveled in Yehudah and Shomron. Recent events, including the murder of Ovadia, have led officials to conclude that Hamas and other terror groups are likely to increase their activities in Yehudah and Shomron in the coming days, Maariv reported. The army will increase its patrols and add personnel to guard towns and roads in the region, in an effort to prevent attacks on Israelis, the officials said.

Overnight Motzoei Shabbos, security officials said they arrested eight wanted security suspects in other areas in Yehudah and Shomron. The suspects were wanted for participating in rioting and throwing stones and firebombs that endangered Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers. Several of the suspects were also charged with belonging to Hamas. All were being questioned on their activities by security forces.

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