Israeli forces arrest suspected accomplices in deadly stabbing attack

Source: Xinhua| 2017-11-01 17:32:06|Editor: Xiang Bo
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JERUSALEM, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Israeli security forces early on Wednesday arrested Palestinian suspected accomplices in the killing of an Israeli man in an Arab town in central Israel last month, the military said.

A military spokesperson said in a statement that the arrest was carried out in the city of Qabatiya in the northern West Bank. The spokesperson did not say how many suspects were arrested or disclose their identity.

The suspects were nabbed in a joint operation of the army, Israel's Shin Bet security service, and the Border Police, the statement said.

The arrests came three days after Israel indicted Youssef Khaled Mustafa Kamil, 20, and Muhammad Ziad Abu al-Rub, 19, both from Qabatiya, for murdering Reuven Schmerling, a 70-year-old man from the settlement of Elkana.

According to the Shin Bet, the pair illegally entered Israel in order to kill a Jew. They stabbed Schmerling dozens of times and dropped his body in the industrial zone of Kafr Qasim, an Arab city in central Israel, where his body was discovered on October 4.

The killing came amidst a wave of violence in Israel and the West Bank, which have claimed the lives of at least 293 Palestinians, 50 Jewish Israelis, two U.S. nationals, a British tourist, and two African asylum seekers since September 2015.

Israel accuses the Palestinian National Authority of "inciting" the unrest. The Palestinians say it is the result of 50 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, home to more than 5 million Palestinians.

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