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Israeli authorities arrest Palestinian suspects in connection with deadly shooting attack

Xinhua, November 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israeli security forces arrested several Palestinian suspects they believe are behind a shooting attack in the West Bank on Friday in which two Israelis, a father and a son, were killed.

A main suspect and additional suspects were arrested during a joint operation carried out over the weekend by the Israeli army and the Shin Bet security agency. The military did not specify the exact number of suspects arrested.

"In a combined operation, a suspect in the murder of Rabbi Ya'akov Litman and his son Netanel on Nov. 13 was arrested along with additional suspects," the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday.

The military said the main suspect "associated himself with involvement in the attack" and that security forces located the weapon and vehicle used to carry it out.

The 40-year-old father and his 18-year-old son were on their way to have a Sabbath dinner with other family members when they were shot and killed, as the attack took place near the Jewish settlement of Otniel, south of Hebron.

Two other family members were injured in moderate and light condition, and were evacuated to the Soroka hospital in the southern town of Be'er Sheva.

Fourteen Israelis have died in the weeks-long wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, in lone-wolf stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks, perpetrated by Palestinian attackers across Israel and in the West Bank territories.

More than 80 Palestinians have been killed during this period, in clashes with Israeli security forces during protests in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, while others were gunned down by security forces and civilian vigilantes after allegedly trying to commit attacks against Israelis.

The current wave of violence was sparked in September due to controversy over the status of the al-Aqsa mosque compound in east Jerusalem, a site holy to both Muslim and Jewish worshippers, and spread throughout the Palestinian territories and across Israel, in what some have charged might be a third intifada, an armed uprising.

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories in the 1967 Mideast war, territories slated to be part of a future Palestinians state according to the two-state solution. Peace talks have evaporated since the last round ended abruptly in April 2014 without results. Endit