Army shoots dead Palestinian throwing firebomb at car
Another West Bank assailant lightly injured as troops search for instigators of violence near Nablus
Itamar Sharon is a news editor at The Times of Israel
A Palestinian man was shot dead by Israeli army troops Saturday evening when throwing a Molotov cocktail at a car near a West Bank settlement.
Paratroopers identified two men hurling firebombs at cars near Yitzhar, south of Nablus. The troops fired at the two, killing one and hitting another in the leg. The second man was promptly arrested, the military said.
The army told Ynet News the section of road in question had suffered dozens of rock-throwing and firebombing attacks over the past year, and said the troops had been deployed in the area for the express purpose of finding such assailants.
The IDF noted that troops had been instructed to use live fire against anyone throwing firebombs.
Last week the military prosecution submitted an indictment against two Palestinian teens in connection with a December firebombing attack south of Nablus that left 11-year-old Ayala Shapira critically wounded.
The indictment named two Kfar Azzun residents — the teenaged Muhammad Beduan, whose exact age was not disclosed, and a 16-year-old — and alleged that the pair prepared a Molotov cocktail and threw it at Shapira’s car on December 25 as her father, Avner, drove on Route 55 between the Ma’ale Shomron settlement and the illegal outpost of El Matan, where the family lives, Israeli media reported Sunday.
Ayala’s father, Avner, was lightly injured in the attack.
Her parents said the Molotov cocktail smashed through the car window while they were on their way home after picking up their daughter from an extra-curricular math class.
The two suspects confessed to the attack when they were arrested days later after a joint IDF-Shin Bet investigation.
The two teens also threw a firebomb that struck the car of Ruth Shapira, Ayala’s mother, a month earlier.
Shapira suffered third-degree burns over much of her body and face in the attack and was initially described as being in critical condition. Her condition has steadily improved.
Lazar Berman and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.