Palestinian affiliated with Islamic State arrested over 3 Jerusalem murders in recent years

Police announce they have cracked the case of a 2019 murder of an elderly couple in Jerusalem, and the murder of a Moldovan foreign worker, also in the capital last month.

Wasim a-Sayed, 34, a Palestinian from the West Bank city of Hebron was arrested by officers shortly after the murder of Ivan Tarnovski on March 22 in Jerusalem. Just four days earlier he had been released from two-year administrative detention over his affiliation with Islamic State.

Police say a-Sayed murdered Yehuda and Tamar Kaduri in their Jerusalem apartment in January 2019, a day after he also stabbed a teenage girl nearby.

The case was previously regarded by officials as “one of the hardest to solve in Jerusalem over the past few years.”

Tamar Kaduri, left, and husband Yehuda, who were found murdered in their Jerusalem home on January 13, 2019. (Courtesy)

When he was arrested in March, police did not know he was responsible for either of the murders. At the time he was detained for being in Israel illegally.

A-Sayed was also under administrative detention between 2015 and 2018 over Islamic State ties.

Police say the murders stemmed from his support of Islamic State. He will be formally indicted in the coming days.