The Israel Defense Forces demolished the home of Omar Amin Abu Laila, a Palestinian attacker who killed an IDF soldier and an Israeli rabbi and wounded several others in a double shooting near Ariel last month, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Palestinian media reported.
According to official PA press agency Wafa, more than 50 Palestinian families were asked to leave their homes adjacent to Abu Laila's in the Zawiya neighborhood of Nablus while army bulldozers set to demolish the two-story house in an operation that took seven hours.
There were also reports of clashes between IDF forces and residents who were protesting the demolition. Protesters reportedly hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at the Israeli forces, and eyewitnesses said IDF troops employed several methods of crowd control, including tear gas.
The double terrorist attack began when Abu Laila stabbed 19-year-old Staff Sgt. Gal Kaidan, who was standing at a bus stop on Route 5 in Samaria.
The terrorist then took Kaidan's military-issue weapon and shot him. While fleeing, he shot two other Israelis, who were seriously wounded, including Rabbi Ahiad Ettinger, 47.
Ettinger was in critical condition overnight and pronounced dead the next day. A father of 12 and a resident of the Eli settlement in Samaria, he was the head of the Oz and Emunah Yeshiva in Tel Aviv.
Abu Laila, who fled the scene of the attacks, was shot by IDF forces after a manhunt that lasted several days and was dubbed "Operation Salfit" by Palestinian extremists.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to praise the security forces for the operation which killed Abu Laila.
In a lengthy statement following the March 17 attack, Netanyahu said he gave orders to begin demolishing the home of Abu Laila and to continue expanding the settlement of Ariel.
"We will demolish their homes, already gave instructions this morning, and we will continue to build as we do tomorrow morning in a very large neighborhood in Ariel, a new neighborhood," he said in keeping with campaign promises ahead of the April 9 elections to amplify settlements.
A demolition order was issued by the IDF earlier this month.
This article was originally published by i24NEWS. Read more at https://www.i24news.tv/en.
