IDF demolishes Samaria home of Palestinian killer of two Israelis

Israeli forces operating in the Samaria village of Salfit demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered two Jews in August 2024, the Israel Defense Forces said on Thursday.

“As part of the operation to thwart terrorism in northern Samaria, IDF, Israel Security Agency and Israel Border Police forces operated earlier today in Salfit in the Ephraim Brigade [area of responsibility] and destroyed the home of terrorist Amar Odeh,” stated the army.

Amar Razak Kamel Odeh went on a stabbing spree in the central Israeli city of Holon on Aug. 4, 2024, murdering Rina Daniv, 66, and Rabbi Avraham Soumichi, 77, and wounding two, including one seriously.

Odeh, who did not have a valid Israeli residence permit, was killed by a police officer.

The demolition of Palestinian terrorists’ homes has been a subject of controversy for years. Israel’s security establishment believes that the policy bolsters deterrence and prevents further terrorist activity.

In early 2023, demolitions all but stopped, according to an Israel Hayom investigation carried out with Zionist NGO Im Tirtzu. However, in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, the army has picked up the pace, issuing demolition orders for a significant number of terrorists’ homes.

Earlier this month, the IDF expanded “Operation Iron Wall” in northern Samaria, in addition to announcing plans to form a new battalion that will remain in Jenin and Tulkarem after the counter-terrorism operation.

In January, an unnamed senior security force told Israel’s Channel 14 News broadcaster that the large-scale campaign against Iranian-backed terrorist organizations in northern Samaria could take several months.

“When it ends, the terror camps will cease to exist. What we did in Gaza, we will do to them as well; we will leave them in ruins,” the source said.