BICOM

An Israeli soldier was killed yesterday by sniper fire in the West Bank city of Hebron just two days after another IDF soldier was abducted and murdered by a Palestinian acquaintance.

Yesterday’s incident occurred near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, a site revered by both Jews and Muslims. The city which is home to Israelis and Palestinians has been a historic focal point of tension and was especially busy yesterday due to the Jewish holiday season. IDF soldiers were reportedly containing a nearby Palestinian riot when the shooting took place, killing twenty-year-old Gavriel Kobi from Tirat Carmel. According to Channel Two, IDF officials estimated that the attack was the work of a Palestinian terror group. A manhunt was launched for the perpetrator after IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz met with regional commanders. Late yesterday evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “we will continue to fight terror” and announced that he would permit Jewish residents to live in a Hebron building after their disputed purchase of the structure had been recently authorised in court.

Yesterday’s shooting came just two days after another twenty-year-old Israeli serviceman, Tomer Hazan, was abducted and killed in the West Bank by a Palestinian man, Nidal Amar. The two had worked together at a Bat Yam restaurant and Amar apparently persuaded Hazan to share a taxi with him to the Palestinian West Bank village of Beit Amin. The family of Hazan, a non-combat air force sergeant, reported him missing on Friday, sparking a manhunt which culminated on Saturday morning when Israeli forces arrested Amar. The Shin Bet security agency said that Amar confessed to killing Hazan in an open field and dumping his body, which was later retrieved, in a well. Amar had reportedly intended to trade Hazan’s body for the release of his brother, who has been in an Israeli prison since being convicted of terror offences in 2003.