Terrorists from Ra’anana attack last month initially wanted to target senior IDF officer — police probe

Two Palestinian terrorists who carried out a deadly car-ramming spree in the central city of Ra’anana last month initially sought to target a senior officer in the IDF Spokespersons Unit, according to a police investigation.

Police say that their investigation of the January 15 attack revealed that before the attack, one of the perpetrators spotted a known IDF spokesman sitting at a restaurant, and later tried to search for him in the city while armed with a knife.

The senior officer is identified as Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman.

Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman. (Courtesy)

Amid the attack, the two terrorists, Ahmed Zidat, 25, and Mahmoud Zidad, 44, both residents of the southern West Bank town of Bani Naim, seized three vehicles and rammed pedestrians in several locations in the city, killing an elderly woman and wounding at least 17 others.

The pair — who were working in Israel illegally — were detained following the attack, and indictments are expected to be filed against them in the coming days.