Foreign Minister ‘shocked’ after two Israelis killed, including father of 12
IDF Lt. Gal Keidan, 19 and Rabbi Achiad Ettinger killed in West Bank terror attack at Ariel and Gitai junctions.
The UK foreign secretary has said he’s shocked by the death of two Israelis killed in West Bank terror attacks, including a father of 12 and an IDF soldier.
Rabbi Achiad Ettinger of Eli WAS shot during an attack on Sunday died of his wounds on Monday morning. He is the second person who was killed at the Ariel and Gitai junctions, after Gal Keidan, 19, was shot and stabbed to death.
Britain’s foreign minister Alistair Burt said he was “shocked at the murders of an Israeli soldier and a rabbi in yesterday’s West Bank terror attack. Such abhorrent acts can never be justified.”
Board of Deputies Senior Vice President Sheila Gewolb said: “Terrorism has claimed more civilian lives. I am deeply saddened to hear that Rabbi Achiad Ettinger, a father of 12 from the settlement of Eli, died of his injuries on Monday, a day after being shot by a Palestinian attacker. On Sunday morning a 19-year-old soldier, Gal Keidan, was also killed. We send our thoughts and prayers to the families of the victims.”
Ettinger, who managed to fire four bullets at the attacker from his car after being shot in the head and neck, was the founder of the Oz V’emuna hesder yeshiva in South Tel Aviv.
Ettinger’s family asked that his organs be donated.
“Rabbi Ettinger’s life’s work will continue and be amongst us even after his passing, and the strength he gave his pupils and the community he led will continue to strengthen us through the enormous grief and sorrow,” President Reuven Rivlin, who visited the family at the hospital on Sunday, said in a statement.
A soldier hit by the shooter at the Gitai Junction remains in serious condition.
Gal Keidan, 19, the soldier who was stabbed by the attacker, was buried Monday morning at the Beersheba military cemetery. He was promoted posthumously to the rank of sergeant.
The suspected attacker has been identified as Omar Abu Laila, 19, of the Az-Zawiya village. He reportedly does not belong to a terror organization nor have a history of security violations. He remains on the lam, though Israeli security officials reportedly arrested his father and 16-year-old brother.
On Sunday morning, Abu Laila allegedly stabbed Keidan and stole his gun, shooting at passing cars at the Ariel Junction where he hit Ettinger, before getting in a car abandoned by a frightened driver and heading to the next junction, where he shot at soldiers waiting at a bus stop.
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