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Search continues for IDF soldier’s killers amid clashes

Riots erupt in the Hebron area • Live fire results in death of Palestinian attacker • IDF investigation ensues.

Mourners at the funeral of IDF Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal, who was hit on the head by a rock by Palestinian attackers and died of his wounds, May 12, 2020. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90.
Mourners at the funeral of IDF Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal, who was hit on the head by a rock by Palestinian attackers and died of his wounds, May 12, 2020. Photo by Yossi Aloni/Flash90.

Arab rioters hurled stones at Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers in the Palestinian Authority-controlled Hebron region on Wednesday morning during operations to apprehend terror suspects, according to IDF reports.

Israeli security forces responded to the violence with riot-control measures and live fire.

The IDF said that it would investigate the death of one of attackers, 15-year-old Zaid Jamil Al-Fayoumi, who was shot during the riots.

The clashes occurred as IDF troops arrested suspects involved in the killing of 21-year-old IDF Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal of the Golani Brigade, who was hit in the head by a cinder block during a raid in the Arab village of Yabed in Samaria on Tuesday morning. Ben-Yigal received first aid at the scene and was airlifted to Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, where he was pronounced dead.

A large-scale manhunt is underway for Ben-Yigal’s killers, with IDF troops, including soldiers from the Duvdevan unit, and Israeli Security Services operatives engaged in the search.

Hundreds of mourners attended Ben-Yigal’s funeral on Tuesday evening at the Be’er Yaakov military cemetery in central Israel.

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