Sariya Ofer, an IDF reserve colonel, was murdered overnight in his home in the Jordan Valley community of Brosh Habika. According to Ofer’s wife, who managed to escape, two Palestinians attacked them with metal rods and axes.
“At this stage, the IDF is not yet confirming what type of weapons was used,” an IDF spokesperson told The Long War Journal. The spokesperson added that “at this point assessments about motives (terror vs. criminal) and anything more are all being examined.”
Ofer is the third Israeli killed in the West Bank by Palestinians in recent weeks. According to Israeli press reports, five Palestinians have thus far been detained in connection with the overnight attack.
On Sep. 21, Israeli authorities announced that an IDF soldier had been abducted and murdered by Palestinians in the West Bank. The soldier, Tomer Hazan, of Bat Yam, was lured by a coworker, Nidal Amar, to the Bayt Amin area in the West Bank, where he was killed. Amar had hoped to use Hazan’s body to bargain for the release of one of his brothers, Nur al Adin Amar, who has been imprisoned since 2003 for involvement in terror-related activities as part of Fatah’s Tanzim group.
The following day, a Palestinian sniper shot and killed an Israeli soldier, Sergeant Gabriel Koby, 20, in the city of Hebron. “The individual or individuals responsible for the shooting of Gal Koby have not yet been apprehended,” an IDF spokesperson told The Long War Journal.
More recently, on Oct. 5, a nine-year-old girl in the West Bank community of Psagot was shot in the chest at close range. Three days after the incident, Israeli authorities arrested two Palestinian relatives from Al Bireh in connection with the attack.
In 2012, no Israelis were killed in terror attacks in the West Bank.
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