Palestinian shot dead throwing bomb at soldiers, army says
Security forces attacked during operation to raze East Jerusalem home of terrorist who killed two in a shooting attack
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A Palestinian was shot dead overnight Wednesday by IDF soldiers in East Jerusalem, with the army saying he was targeted as he threw an improvised explosive device at security forces, during an operation to destroy the home of a terrorist.
An IDF spokesperson said Thursday that during a clash, “suspects threw improvised explosive devices at soldiers, who responded by opening fire,” killing the Palestinian, identified by the Palestinian health ministry as Ahmad al-Kharoubi, 19.
Security forces had arrived in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Kafr Aqab to demolish the home of terrorist Mesbah Abu Sabih.
As troops moved in, they came under fire and IEDs were thrown at them by rioters, the IDF said. There were no injuries to security forces.
The destruction of the apartment was carried out by smashing down walls and sealing off entrances and windows.
Sabih, 39, a former resident of al-Ram in the West Bank, killed two Israelis and injured six others when he opened fire on pedestrians near the capital’s Ammunition Hill. He was eventually shot dead in a gun battle with police.
Sabih was reportedly known to Israel Police as a suspected terrorist and member of Hamas for several years. He had previously spent a year in jail for incitement and was due, on the day of the shooting, to report to an Israeli prison to serve a four-month sentence for assaulting a police officer in 2013.
In the two weeks prior to the attack, Sabih had been picked up and released by police five times and had been banned from entering East Jerusalem for one month, he told the Palestinian Ma’an news agency.
However, many Israelis — including Likud lawmaker Yehuda Glick — blamed the Israeli court system and law enforcement for not doing a better job tracking Abu Sabih, which they say would have prevented his attack.
AFP and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
