Israeli Security Forces Kill Palestinian Man Suspected of Killing a Jewish Cleric

Israeli media has reported that the country's security forces found Ahmad Jarrar, a Palestinian man suspected of being a member of the gang responsible for the murder of an Israeli Jewish cleric, and killed him during an operation in the West Bank. According to Ynet, the Israeli forces' operation to search for the gang that killed the Israeli cleric last week lasted from midnight Wednesday to the afternoon of Thursday, January 18, for fifteen hours in two areas of the Palestinian city of Jenin in northern West Bank. Rabbi Raziel Shevach from the Israeli settlement of Havat Gilad near the city of Shchem or Nablus was killed last week while driving on a road in the West Bank by gunfire from individuals who managed to escape. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised his country's forces on Thursday, January 18, for conducting a 'complex and successful operation' that resulted in the death or arrest of the gang of killers; Lieberman also told the Walla news website that this gang had previously attempted to kill Israelis. Ynet quoted Israeli security officials as saying that the gang responsible for the murder was affiliated with Hamas. No Palestinian organization has claimed responsibility for the murder of the Israeli cleric, but Hamas and several other Palestinian groups praised the killing as part of their 'resistance' activities. On Thursday, Hamas condemned the Israeli forces' operation in the city of Jenin and the 'continued security cooperation' between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. Abdul Latif al-Ghanu, a Hamas spokesman, wrote on his Facebook that Israeli forces could not have carried out this operation without security cooperation with the Palestinian Authority; Sami Abu Zuhri, another Hamas spokesman, called this cooperation 'criminal.' Jenin is under the control of security forces affiliated with the Palestinian Authority. However, according to the Jerusalem Post, neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority has referred to any potential cooperation between them in the operation carried out in this city. The Central Council of the Palestine Liberation Organization had requested on Monday this week, at the end of a two-day meeting in Ramallah, that security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority and Israel be suspended in protest against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Palestinian news sources claimed that Israel took Ahmad Jarrar's body with them during the operation in Jenin, a claim that Israel has not confirmed. However, images published in Israeli media, citing news agencies from the operation area, confirm that Ahmad Jarrar's house was destroyed; according to Ynet, an adjacent house was also destroyed, although the Palestinian news network CNN identified the damaged houses as two homes aside from Jarrar's destroyed house. Ynet reported that Israel arrested several 'suspected' Palestinians during the operation in Jenin and transferred them to the country's security agency for interrogation. The Jerusalem Post identified one of the detainees as another member of the 'terrorist' gang responsible for the murder of the slain Israeli cleric. Additionally, the Israeli police stated that two commandos affiliated with these forces were injured by gunfire when Israeli forces entered Ahmad Jarrar's house; Gilad Erdan, Israel's Minister of Public Security, visited the two injured commandos in a hospital in Israel. According to Israeli media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is on an official trip to India, sent a message thanking his country's security forces for the operation and wishing a speedy recovery for the injured commandos.