JERUSALEM, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Following a month-long manhunt, Israeli forces have arrested a Palestinian citizen of Israel suspected of perpetrating a deadly stabbing attack in February, the security source said on Sunday.
A statement released by the Shin Bet security forces said that Abd Al Karim Assi, 19, was captured in the West Bank city of Nablus early on Sunday, in an overnight joint operation of the Shin Bet, military and police.
The forces also arrested several persons who allegedly assisted Assi to hide or knew his whereabouts and did not reported to the Israeli authorities, the statement said.
The military said in a separate statement that the arrests were carried out following "many activities, and overt and covert intelligence efforts."
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said the arrest had "brought a closure" and lauded the security forces for "a successful intelligence operation."
On February 5, Assi, armed with two knives, stabbed to death Itamar Ben-Gal, a rabbi from the Har Bracha settlement, at a bus station outside the settlement of Ariel in the northern West Bank.
Assi was identified as an Arab citizen of Israel, whose mother lives in Haifa, a city in northern Israel, and his father lives in the West Bank city of Nablus. Assi himself lived in Jaffa, part of the municipality of Tel Aviv.
He received social help and therapy at a home for at-risk youth in Tel Aviv. He left the home a few months ago and had lived with his father in Nablus since then.
The incident was the latest in a fresh wave of violence in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel, sparked by U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel on December 6.
