The IDF on Monday issued a demolition order for the home of the Palestinian terrorist who murdered Israeli civilian Eli Kay on November 22 in Jerusalem’s Old City.
The order was signed by OC Home Front Command Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin for the home of Fadi Abu Shkhaydam, who lived in east Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp. His family had appealed the decision, but their requests were rejected.
Abu Shkhaydam opened fire at several Israeli men near the entrance to the Western Wall, killing Kay, 26, and wounding four others. Border Police officers shot and killed the terrorist.
Gordin’s area of command includes east Jerusalem and the Shuafat refugee camp. OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yehuda Fuchs is authorized to issue demolition orders in the West Bank.
Abu Shkhaydam was a known Hamas member, and the terrorist group quickly took responsibility for the attack.
Hamas called it a “heroic operation” and warned “the criminal enemy and its government to stop the attacks on our land and our holy sites. [Israel] will pay a price for the iniquities it commits against al-Aqsa Mosque, Silwan, Sheikh Jarrah and elsewhere.”
Although violent attacks in the West Bank have jumped significantly over the past year, the number of deaths from terrorist attacks was the lowest in a decade.
According to data released by the military, there were 5,532 incidents of rocks being thrown, 1,022 Molotov cocktails thrown, 61 shooting attacks and 18 stabbing attacks over the past year.
Two Israelis were killed in the West Bank.
Israeli officials say home demolitions are a key deterrent to stop other potential attackers, but Palestinians and human-rights groups criticize the army for using collective punishment by demolishing the homes of the terrorists’ families.
The IDF believes there is no exact science to stopping terrorist attacks, but home demolitions have led to attacks being thwarted and less motivation to carry them out.
Following the attack by Abu Shkhaydam, however, several others took place, including one just a few hours later in Jaffa, where an 18-year-old Palestinian stabbed a 67-year-old man, moderately wounding him.
The attacker also attempted to stab the man’s wife before fleeing the scene. The Palestinian, from the West Bank city of Jenin, was arrested an hour later.
In mid-December, Yehuda Dimentman, 25, was killed near the Homesh outpost in the West Bank in an attack carried out by members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.