Family of Barkan Murderer Gets Demolition Order

Ashraf Nalaweh, the murderer of Ziv Hajabi, Hy”d, and Kim Levengard Yechezkel, Hy”d, is still at large, but the IDF has informed his family that their home is slated for demolition.

The demolition orders were presented to the family at their home in the village of Shweka, near Tul Karem, on Sunday night. The family has the right to appeal the order, if they file the appeal by Wednesday.

In the attack a week ago Sunday, Nalaweh murdered Hajabi and Yechezkel in the offices of Alon Metal Works in the Barkan Industrial Zone, where he worked. Nalaweh arrived for work in the morning, carrying with him an assault rifle hidden under his clothing. As a regular employee with a work permit, he was admitted to the grounds of the industrial zone without too much scrutiny, security officials told Yediot Achronot.

Nalaweh went to the factory’s second floor to fix a problem, but when he saw several workers he went back downstairs, now brandishing his weapon. Witnesses said that he took some plastic ties from a worker on the first floor, and went back upstairs to carry out his attack. He then ran towards Levengard, who was sitting at a desk at the end of the hall. According to some accounts, he tied her hands with the plastic ties, and shot her. He then ran to one of the offices on the floor and shot Hajabi, before running downstairs and out of the building.

There has been an intensive search for Nalaweh over the past week, but as yet they have been unable to find him. Searches have concentrated on the Tul Karem area, as well as in the Shechem area, where Nalaweh was thought to have fled, as he has relatives there. He is considered armed and dangerous, but officials believe it is only a matter of time. “He can’t hide out forever, and when he surfaces we will be there to capture him,” security officials told Hadashot News. “We are keeping the pressure on to make sure he runs out of options and is unable to organize a long-term effort to remain underground.”

Security officials told Hadashot News that one of the challenges in finding the terrorist is that he apparently acted as a “lone wolf,” without an organization like that of the major terror groups behind him. Thus, he has his own network of people assisting him, who are apparently not known to operatives of terror groups Israel has questioned, or informants Israel works with.

Overnight Sunday, security officials said they arrested 22 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.