BICOM

Israeli security forces announced that two Bedouin men were arrested on Friday for stabbing Sergeant Ron Yitzhak Kokia in Arad on Thursday night.

Kokia, who was 19 and from Tel Aviv, was attacked near a shopping centre in the southern Israeli town of Arad. Medics arrived at the scene and found him in a critical condition, unconscious and without a pulse, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service. A helicopter was ordered to rush him to hospital, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. Kokia was serving with the Nahal infantry Brigade, whose base is just outside Arad.

The attackers stole Kokia’s gun and fled the scene, prompting a police manhunt across the south of Israel. The Shin Bet said one of the suspects admitted during questioning that he attacked Kokia and provided the exact location of Kokia’s gun.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “I praise the swift actions actions of the Shin Bet and civilian counter-terrorism units for capturing the despicable terrorists who murdered Ron Kokia.” Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman posted on his Facebook that “the murder of Sergeant Ron Kokia proves the necessity of the death penalty for terrorists”.

2000 people attended Sergeant Kokia’s funeral on Sunday afternoon at Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Shaul military cemetery.