The terrorist who killed two Israel Defense Forces soldiers outside the city of Nablus (Shechem) in Samaria on Wednesday evening has yet to be handed over by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces, local media reported on Sunday.
Abeed Shtayyeh, from the village of Beita just south of Nablus, turned himself in to Palestinian police in Nablus shortly after running over and fatally injuring IDF Staff Sgt. Eliya Hilel, 20, and Staff Sgt. Diego Shvisha Harsaj, 20.
Instead of being transferred to the Israel Defense Forces in accordance with longstanding agreements between Jerusalem and the P.A., the terrorist was released from P.A. custody and moved into hiding, allegedly by operatives of Ramallah’s General Intelligence Service, according to Channel 14.
The governor of Nablus told the terrorist’s family that the P.A. could no longer shelter him due to Israeli threats to launch an arrest raid on the police station, Channel 14 correspondent Baruch Yedid reported.
An inquiry to the IDF about the reports went unanswered, with the military referring JNS to the Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration, which did not respond by press time.
On Saturday night, hundreds of Israelis from Samaria and the Jordan Valley blocked the entrances to Nablus in protest, Arutz 7 reported.
The demonstration erupted after the parents of Hilel called for a siege on the Palestinian city until their son’s murderer was handed over to Israeli forces “alive or dead,” the outlet said.
Choosing Life, a forum of terror victims and bereaved families that helped organize the rally, stated, “The Israeli government needs to sober up and quickly order the immediate arrest of the head of the General Intelligence Service, Majed Faraj, who gave an order not to hand over the terrorist.”
Almost 80 members of the U.S.-trained and armed P.A. police forces have been implicated in terrorism against Israeli civilians and military personnel in the past three years alone, according to research published by the Jerusalem-based Regavim Movement think tank in March.
In addition, the Hamas terrorist group has recruited “dozens” of P.A. operatives, using them as combatants and for intelligence gathering, Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster reported last year.
