2 Palestinian teens accused in West Bank shootings
Pair of 17-year-olds suspected of opening fire on vehicles near Halamish settlement with makeshift guns, arrested last month
Two Palestinian teens suspected of carrying out shooting attacks at passing cars in the central West Bank were arrested last month, the Shin Bet security service said Sunday.
The two suspects, both 17 and from the Palestinian village of Deir Abu Mash’al west of Ramallah, were arrested hours after allegedly shooting at Israeli cars on January 27, according to the security agency.
The arrests were carried out together with the Israel Defense Forces and police and were gagged until the Sunday announcement.
The Shin Bet did not say when the two were expected to be officially charged. A spokesperson said the results of the investigations had been handed over to the military prosecution.
The pair were accused of shooting at cars near the West Bank settlement of Halamish, outside Ramallah, on November 14, and January 27, as well as unspecified “additional attacks.”
There were no injuries in any of those attacks.
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The Shin Bet said that during the investigation, security forces uncovered two makeshift “Carlo” submachine guns that agents then matched to casings taken from the scenes of the shooting.
“This investigation reveals, once again, the involvement of minors in severe terror activity, as well as the tangible security threat posed by terrorists’ access to makeshift weapons that can cause massive damage,” the statement said.
Five Israelis were killed in January by Palestinian terrorists, making the month the deadliest since June 2016, the Shin Bet said last week.
Four of the victims were killed in Jerusalem on January 8 when an assailant drove his truck into a crowd of IDF soldiers in Jerusalem. One man was killed the previous week in Haifa.
The security service recorded a total of 100 attacks in January, which left 16 wounded, according to its monthly report published earlier this week.
Of the attacks documented last month, 81 involved the hurling of firebombs. December 2016 had seen 98 attacks.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
