JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Palestinian man suspected of killing two Jewish-Israeli co-workers at a factory in the Barkan industrial zone in the West Bank was killed in a shootout with Israeli forces who came to arrest him.
Ashraf Naalwa, 23, was killed early Thursday morning after Israeli forces surrounded his hideout. He was armed when security forces came to his hideout, the Israel Security Agency said in a statement about his apprehension and death.
From several other suspects already captured who had aided Naalwa, the ISA, also known as the Shin Bet Security Serves, had learned that Naalwa was planning to soon carry out a new terror attack, which was thwarted with his arrest and death.
In the attack on Oct. 7, Naalwa shot and killed Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 29, and a mother of one from Rosh Haayin, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three from Rishon Lezion. Both had been tied up and shot at close range.
Naalwa lived in the village of Shweika, near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, and had a permit to enter the Barkan settlement for work, but it is not known how he was able to bring the weapon into the industrial zone.
It was reported to be the first of its kind in the Barkan Industrial Park, which is home to 160 factories that employ thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.
