JERUSALEM—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened Sunday morning’s weekly cabinet meeting by addressing the terror attack that took place on Sunday morning in the Barkan industrial zone in the Samaria region of the West Bank and took the lives of two Israelis.
“This is a very serious terror attack, in which two Israelis were brutally murdered and a thirds injured. Security forces are in pursuit of the vile murderer. I am sure they will catch him, and I am sure we will bring him to justice. I would like to send condolences to the families of the two victims, as well as our prayers for a speedy recovery to the wounded victim,” he said.
Two of the victims, a man and woman in their 30’s, were fatally wounded and later passed away and one, a woman in her 50’s, was in moderate condition, according to Magen David Adom.
It’s the first terror attack in the park — which employees both Israelis and Palestinians —and is considered to be an oasis of coexistence where both Israelis and Palestinians come together.
The 23-year-old Palestinian suspect had no previous security-related history and had a permit to work the Barkan park, where he was employed at a factory for the past seven months though he had not shown up work for the past few weeks, said the IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis.
The shooter entered a factory building and shot at two women and one man before fleeing. He can be seen in security footage running away from the scene with a rifle in his hand.
The IDF said it is looking into the security breach that enabled him to bring a weapon into the industrial park.
The security forces are conducting a manhunt to capture the Palestinian terrorist.
Head of the Samaria Regional Council Yossi Dagan arrived at the site of Sunday morning’s attack in the Barkan industrial area, which left three injured. “This is a very serious event, in a very large factory in Israel, which exports a lot abroad.
The Barkan industrial area, where about 4,000 Israeli Jews and 4,000 Palestinians have been working together for decades, is considered a bridge of co-existence.
‘’It only shows how much this terrorism is murderous to both Jews and Arabs, that is the barbarism of fundamental Islamic terror,” Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council told Tazpit Press Service (TPS).
“We will never break. The Zionism in the Samaria, as well as every other place in Israel is strong. We will build the land of Israel. We will build schools and neighborhoods and towns, as well as a thriving industry which exports to the entire world. This is a very difficult event. We will gather our strength. We will never break. We can see here Jewish and Arab workers together, crying together, in trauma of this event – That only emphasizes how absurd this blind murderous rage is. We will never break.”