The Shin Bet security agency on Monday lifted its gag order on the name of the Palestinian suspect arrested in the murder of Esther Horgan in Tal Menashe in December, identifying him as Muhammad Marwah Kabha, 40, of the village Tura al-Gharbiya near Jenin.
Kabha has served a number of prison sentences in Israel for terrorist activity.
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Four other suspects were arrested on suspicion of helping hide him as he tried to evade arrest after the murder.
When interrogated by officers from the Shin Bet and the Judea Samaria District Police, Kabha told them he had ethno-religious reasons for killing Horgan.
Kabha said that approximately six weeks before the murder, the death of another security prisoner, Kamal Abu Waer, in prison due to illness had prompted him to carry out a terrorist attack.
However, Prison Services Spokesman Yitzhak Gurlov confirmed that Abu Awar died in Shamir Medical Center in centreal Israel and not in prison, as claimed by Kabha.
Kabha said he used a hole in the security fence to scout the area. After realizing that there was little foot traffic at the scene and that it was mostly visited by Israeli civilians, he decided it would be an appropriate place to perpetrate his planned attack.
On the afternoon of Dec. 20, 2020, Kabha was in the wooded area near Tal Menashe, smuggling cigarettes through the fence. He approached a grove and waited there. A few hours later, he spotted Horgan, walking alone. He attacked and killed her.
In the days following the murder, Kabha received assistance from friends and relatives who helped him hide from Israeli security forces.
Kabha is still being interrogated, and is slated to stand trial in the IDF's Samaria Military Court.
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