WATCH: IDF soldier who neutralized Halamish attacker speaks out

"I was at the right place and at the right time," says the soldier who stepped in on Friday night when a terrorist interrupted the Salomon family's dinner and murdered three of the family members.

By JOY BERNARD
Updated: JULY 23, 2017 14:57
Video statement from the IDF soldier who neturalized the assailant in last night's attack in Neve Tsufideo statement from the IDF soldier who neturalized the assailant in last night's attack in Neve T
The three Israeli victims of Friday evening's lethal terror attack in the West Bank settlement of Halamish were named Saturday night.
Seventy-year-old Yosef Salomon and his children Chaya, 46, and Elad, a 36-years-old and a father of five, were all murdered in the attack.
Yosef's wife Tovah is still hospitalized after suffering grave injuries.
The three were enjoying a Friday evening meal and the whole family had gathered that night to celebrate the birth of Elad's son who was born less than 24 hours earlier.
Their happy, calm evening was interrupted when 19-year-old Palestinian terrorist Omar al-Abdel from the nearby village of Khobar infiltrated their home and wielding a knife, began assaulting them. While the three were slain, some of the family members did manage to flee during the rampage.
The terrorist was eventually neutralized by a soldier who was in the area and heard the sounds emanating from the scene.
The soldier, who is serving in the IDF's Oketz Unit (an elite canine special forces unit), recounted Saturday how he had rushed to the scene of the terror attack. "I was standing outside the house and I saw the terrorist from the window. I understood that I had to act cool-headedly and be professional. I fired one bullet at him, and it hurt him in the stomach and neutralized him," he said.
"Mostly I was at the right place and at the right time," the soldier added. "We join the family in their grief and hug them. Personally for me it's a complicated event, I'm trying to focus on the fact that in the little that I did I prevented something that could have been a much worse event in a short amount of time."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his deep sorrow over the murders of the father and his two children on Saturday night. "This is an act of terror that was carried out by an animal of a human, incited by profound hatred. Security forces are doing the best they can in order to maintain security, and will take all the steps necessary to do so," the premier stated.
The times of the funerals have yet to have been released.