IDF prepares to raze home of terrorist who killed three Israelis near Ariel
Tamir Avihai, 50, Michael Ladygin, 36, and Motti Ashkenazi, 59, stabbed and rammed to death by Muhammed Souf, 18, during attack at Ariel Industrial Park and nearby highway
Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent
The Israeli military early Wednesday morning made preparations for the demolition of the home of a Palestinian man who carried out a deadly terror attack near the West Bank settlement city of Ariel a day earlier.
On Tuesday morning, 18-year-old Muhammed Souf went on a stabbing and car-ramming spree at the Ariel Industrial Park and a nearby highway, killing three and wounding three others seriously.
The three victims were named as Tamir Avihai, 50, Michael Ladygin, 36, and Motti Ashkenazi, 59.
In the predawn hours of Wednesday morning, Israeli troops measured Souf’s home — the first step before its potential demolition — in the village of Hares, the Israel Defense Forces said.
“The mapping was carried out for the purpose of examining the possibility of demolishing the house, in accordance with any decision that will be taken,” the IDF said.
Israel regularly demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks as a matter of policy. The efficacy of the policy has been hotly debated even within the Israeli security establishment, while human rights activists denounce the practice as unjust collective punishment.
Souf was shot dead by soldiers and armed civilians some 20 minutes after beginning his rampage.
The IDF is probing a security guard for not firing directly at the terrorist when the attack began.
The attack came amid an Israeli anti-terror offensive mostly focused on the northern West Bank to deal with a series of Palestinian attacks that have left 29 people in Israel and the West Bank dead since the start of the year, including Tuesday’s attack.
The operation has netted more than 2,000 arrests in near-nightly raids, but has also left over 130 Palestinians dead, many of them — but not all — while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces.
In arrest raids across the West Bank early Wednesday, the IDF said troops arrested four wanted Palestinians and seized several firearms.
