IDF said to return bodies of 2 West Bank terrorists
Nimer Mahmoud Ahmad Jamal killed 3 Israelis in Har Adar in September; Hamzeh Yousef Zamaareh stabbed a guard at Karmei Tzur last week
The Israeli military returned the bodies of two West Bank Palestinian terrorists for burial, Hebrew reports said Friday.
One of the bodies was that of Nimer Mahmoud Ahmad Jamal, a 37-year-old from Bayt Surik, who shot dead three Israelis in nearby Har Adar in September.
Border Police officer, Solomon Gavriyah, 20, and two private security guards — Youssef Ottman, 25, of the nearby Arab Israeli town of Abu Ghosh, and Or Arish, 25, of Har Adar — were killed in the attack. The settlement’s security coordinator, Amit Steinhart, was wounded.
Jamal was shot dead by security forces at the scene.
The other body was reportedly that of Hamzeh Yousef Zamaareh, 19, who stabbed a civilian security guard in the hand on February 7 in a guard post at the entrance to the Karmei Tzur settlement in the Etzion bloc. Zamaareh was from the nearby village of Halhul.
A second guard shot Zaamareh and killed him, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
The wounded guard, a 34-year-old man, was treated at the scene by Magen David Adom medics and taken to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem while fully conscious.
There was no immediate confirmation from the IDF on the return of Jamal or Zaamareh’s bodies.
The Karmei Tzur stabbing attack came days after a terrorist fatally stabbed 29-year-old Rabbi Itamar Ben-Gal outside the settlement of Ariel. Footage from the attack scene showed the suspect, 19-year-old Abed al-Karim Assi, crossing a road toward Ben-Gal, who was standing in front of a bus stop, and stabbing him. Ben-Gal then fled across the street with the stabber in pursuit.
Medics tried to resuscitate Ben-Gal, who was stabbed three times in the chest. He was taken to Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikvah, but succumbed to his wounds. He was laid to rest in a cemetery in the Har Bracha settlement, where he lived with his family. He is survived by his wife and four children.
Israeli forces are still hunting for the suspected killer.
