TEL AVIV – The Israeli army has launched a large-scale manhunt for the Palestinian terrorist who shot two Israelis dead at close range at an industrial park in the West Bank on Sunday.
Troops entered the village of Beit Lid near Tulkarm to search for the terrorist, according to Palestinian sources. The suspected terrorist, a 23-year-old Palestinian man from the northern West Bank village of Shweikeh, came to his place of employment at the Barkan Industrial Park armed with a locally produced Carlo submachine gun, army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said.
The gunman fled the scene and is believed to still be armed and dangerous, the IDF said.
The industrial park employs some 5,000 Palestinians and is said to have been a bastion of coexistence. The terrorist was said to have been employed at the Alon factory for the past seven months as an electrician with a legal work permit. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot toured the factory following the attack, deploying reinforcements to the area.
The terrorist tied up a man and woman before shooting them dead. He also shot a third woman, 54, in the stomach, who sustained moderate injuries.
The female victim was later identified as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, from Rosh Ha’ayin, a mother to a one-year-old.
According to another factory worker, the terrorist’s Carlo submachine gun jammed, preventing him from further shooting. The gun has been connected to a series of terror attacks in recent years.
“He has not yet been apprehended. We know that he is still armed and is considered dangerous,” Conricus said. “We do not know if he plans to carry out another terror attack or if he is just fleeing, but we assume he is still dangerous.”
Conricus added that he knew the victims.
In response to reports that the shooting attack was also spurred by the terrorist’s disgruntlement at work, Conricus said, “We know that there were other factors involved, that it wasn’t a pure-and-simple terror attack.”
“But we know from various sources, which we cannot share today but may in the future, that this was a terror attack,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, the suspect had posted on his Facebook page that he was “waiting for [Allah].”
He had been absent from work for several days. He is said to have no previous history of terror and no ties to terror groups.
Officials in the area and at the Barkan Industrial Park itself expressed their shock at the attack.
“This is a very difficult incident. Until now there have not been any security incidents here. For decades, industrial zones have served as a bridge of coexistence,” Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan said.
Shai Amichai, the director-general of the industrial zone, also described the location as a good example of Israelis and Palestinians working side by side.
“Both in the industrial area and in the community itself, the cooperation is fruitful,” he told the Ynet news site. “We are in a relationship of neighborliness and professional relations at the highest level. The residents feel secure in their workplace, and many forge connections outside of their place of work.
“I do not know the security procedures of the zone,” added Amichai. “But there was no decrease in the number of security forces in the region, neither overt nor undercover.”
The mayor of the nearby city of Ariel, Eli Shviro, said that “the industrial zones in which Jews and Palestinians work together are the path to coexistence in our region.”
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