IDF demolishes home of Palestinian car-rammer who killed two soldiers

Ala Qabha is on trial for the March murder of Sgt. Netanel Kahalani, 20, and Capt. Ziv Daos, 21

By Judah Ari Gross 21 June 2018, 8:56 am

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Judah Ari Gross is The Times of Israel's religions and Diaspora affairs correspondent.

Israeli troops on June 21, 2018 demolish the northern West Bank home of Palestinian Ala Qabha, who rammed his car into a group of soldiers, killing two soldiers. (Israel Defense Forces)

The Israeli military on Thursday demolished the West Bank home of a Palestinian man who rammed his car into a group of IDF soldiers earlier this year, killing two of them and injuring two more, the army said.

On March 16, Ala Qabha, 26, rammed his car into the group of soldiers outside a military post in the northern West Bank, near the Mevo Dotan settlement, killing Sgt. Netanel Kahalani, and Capt. Ziv Daos and seriously injuring two others. The army later designated the car-ramming a terror attack.

Qabha was indicted in a military court on April 16 on two charges of “intentionally causing death” — the equivalent of murder under military law — and two counts of attempting to intentionally cause death.

Before dawn on Thursday, Israeli security forces began preparing Qabha’s apartment for demolition in the northern West Bank town of Barta’a.

Israeli troops on June 21, 2018, demolish the northern West Bank home of a Palestinian man, Ala Qabha, who rammed his car into a group of soldiers, killing two soldiers. (Israel Defense Forces)

The military destroyed only Qabha’s apartment, leaving the rest of the multi-story building intact, the army said.

The demolition was carried out by soldiers from the IDF’s Menashe Regional Brigade, officers from the Border Police and members of the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration.

Elsewhere in the West Bank on early Thursday morning, the military arrested 17 Palestinians suspected of throwing rocks or taking part in terrorist activities, the army said.

Sgt. Netanel Kahalani, left, and Cpt. Ziv Daos, right, are identified as the soldiers killed in an apparent car-ramming terror attack on March 16, 2018. (Courtesy)

Qabha had initially claimed that the car-ramming was an accident, but later changed his story and said it was deliberate and that he intended to murder soldiers, the Shin Bet security service said at the time.

The security agency said that it appeared he had acted alone, and possibly spontaneously.

Footage from the scene showed Qabha driving past the soldiers, then making a U-turn and accelerating into them.

Daos, 21, from the central town of Azor, was a platoon commander in a Home Front Command search and rescue unit. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.

Kahalani, 20, from Elyakim in northern Israel, served as a driver in the Menashe Regional Brigade. He was promoted to the rank of sergeant.