IDF razes home of Palestinian accused of supplying guns in deadly June attack
Home of Bassel Shehadeh in town of Urif demolished overnight, months after he allegedly helped plan assault at West Bank gas station and hummus restaurant that killed 4
The Israeli Defense Forces demolished the West Bank home of an alleged Hamas terrorist accused of being involved in a deadly shooting attack next to the settlement of Eli in June, a military spokesperson announced Wednesday.
Bassel Shehadeh has been indicted on suspicion of supplying the firearms used in a shooting attack carried out by two Hamas gunmen near Eli in June 2023, in which four Israelis were killed.
Overnight, troops entered the town of Urif, south of Nablus, and demolished Shehadeh’s home. The homes of the two gunmen have already been razed.
“The family was evacuated from the three-story building, then the second floor of the building was blown up,” village council secretary Adel al-Amer told AFP.
In other overnight operations, troops detained seven wanted Palestinians in the West Bank, according to the army spokesperson.
In August, the IDF indicted Shehadeh and another Palestinian, Hamed Sabah, on charges of murder and other security offenses for allegedly supplying firearms and ammunition to Muhannad Faleh Shehadeh and Khaled Mustafa Sabah and coordinating attack plans with them, the indictment said. The trial is ongoing.
On June 20, Muhannad Faleh Shehadeh and Khaled Mustafa Sabah, also from Urif, stormed a gas station adjacent to Eli in the central West Bank, opening fire with a semi-automatic rifle at a hummus joint in the gas station.
The attack claimed the lives of three of the restaurant’s patrons: Nachman Mordoff and Elisha Anteman, both 17, and 21-year-old Harel Masood. Ofer Fayerman, 64, was also murdered while pumping gas. Four people were injured.
One of the gunmen was shot and killed on the scene, and the other was killed in a shootout following an hours-long manhunt.
Preparations for the demolition of Shehadeh’s home began in September. The process of demolishing a terrorist’s home takes several months, during which the home is mapped out and the High Court addresses appeals by the family. Security forces often wait for an optimal time to enter Palestinian cities or neighborhoods for the operation.
The attack in Eli set off a spate of revenge assaults by Jewish extremists, with hundreds of young Jewish men storming the nearby Palestinian villages of Turmus Ayya, Umm Safa and Urif, setting fire to houses, vehicles, and fields, and firing live rounds at locals.
Israel’s home demolition policy has come under fire from human rights groups and foreign governments, even as some Israeli security chiefs have questioned its efficacy. After a 10-year lull in the policy’s execution, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reinstated it in 2014, following a terror attack in central Jerusalem.
At the time, Netanyahu’s decision was condemned by the US State Department, which said the home demolitions amount to collective punishment. In 2021, the Biden administration announced a push to convince Israel to end the policy, after strongly rebuking Israel for demolishing the home of an alleged Palestinian-American terrorist.
Since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 after Hamas terrorists staged a devastating assault on Israeli border communities, troops have arrested more than 2,700 wanted Palestinians across the West Bank, including more than 1,300 affiliated with Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority health ministry, more than 300 West Bank Palestinians have been killed in that time.
