The 20-month-old Oslo Terrorism War against Israel continues, as the death of four more Israelis in two attacks last night brought the total number of victims to 508. The month of May has seen 26 civilian murders at the hands of Palestinian terrorists, and two soldiers killed by PA armed forces.
At 11 PM last night, three high school boys were murdered on their campus in the Shomron community of Itamar: Netanel Riachi, 17, of Kokhav Yaakov; Avraham Siton, 17, of Shilo; and Gil\'ad Shtieglitz, 15, of Yakir. All three are from communities in Judea and Samaria. Two boys were wounded, listed in light-to-moderate condition. Three hours earlier, Albert Maloul, 50, of Jerusalem, was murdered south of Ofrah as he and his cousin were driving back to Jerusalem from Eli. One or two terrorists waited in ambush in the same place where Assaf Hershkovitz was murdered a year ago. They fired only a few shots, but one of them proved fatal to Albert Maloul; his cousin was wounded and is listed in moderate condition.
In the Itamar attack, the terrorist murderer climbed over or through the community\'s surrounding fence. He first shot two students standing nearby, and then ran after several other students towards the basketball court. He continued shooting, as he did when he then ran into the dormitory. One student, who was miraculously unhurt, said that as he lay hiding under his bed, the terrorist came into the room three different times and sprayed the walls with bullets. At that point, the yeshiva guard and the community security officer arrived on the scene and shot and killed the terrorist.
Rabbi Nitzan Yamin, a resident of Itamar, was a hero of the night. He later recounted, \"I would say it took about 40 seconds from the time I woke up until I was outside, and then about 30 seconds until I reached the site... I took off my undershirt shirt and tzitzit (ritual fringes), because they were white and would make me stand out, and I started running towards the area. By the time I got there, Aryeh [the guard] had felled the terrorist with a bullet, but then he started to get up... I shot him a few times in the head, and took away his gun [Kalachnikov rifle]... Then we started to comb the area for a possible second terrorist... The children were in shock, but we gathered them in the Beit Medrash while we went from room to room to make sure there were no other terrorists.\"
The army immediately imposed a closure upon the nearby village Beit Furik. It is assumed that the terrorist, a resident of Shechem, hid out there for several hours before he attacked. Rabbi Avi Ronsky, who holds the rank of Col. in the reserves and a teacher at the yeshiva, said this morning that the army cut down on the number of IDF guards in Itamar last week. Arutz-7\'s Kobi Sela reports \"anger and frustration\" in Itamar at the reduction of the IDF protection in the yishuv. Residents said that until last week, reserves soldiers stood guard at the very point overlooking the valley from which the terrorist infiltrated, and that they had warned the authorities that the area held the potential for a terrorist entry.
Yesterday\'s four terrorist victims, as well as two others from the Monday bombing in Petach Tikvah, were buried today. Ruthie Peled, 56 and her 18-month-old granddaughter Sinai Keinan were laid to rest in the cemetery of Kibbutz Shfayim, and Avraham Maloul was buried in Givat Sha\'ul in Jerusalem this afternoon. Gil\'ad Shtieglitz was a student from another yeshiva high school who had come to Itamar two days before to consider transferring there; his friends said he was \"very happy\" during those two days. His funeral departed from Yakir for burial in the Barkan cemetery near Ariel.
Netanel Riachi\'s funeral began in Kokhav Yaakov shortly after noon and made its way to the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. Netanel\'s family was one of the founding families of Kokhav Yaakov, and he was the first baby born there. Elchanan Amar, one of the students who was able to escape the terrorist\'s murderous fire, said that his roommate Netanel was \"quiet, cheerful and always willing to help us in our studies.\"
The funeral of Avi Siton set off from the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem towards Shilo, where he was interred. One of Avi\'s friends said, \"I don\'t know what I\'ll do without him, I loved him. He always greeted everyone so happily: \'How\'re you doing, my brother?\' - the guard, his friends, everyone. I don\'t know what we will do. How can we go on without him? He made everything happy... Now we have the matriculation exams. He was so happy with his high mark in the Gmara [Talmud] test yesterday... I don\'t know how we\'ll go on...\"
At 11 PM last night, three high school boys were murdered on their campus in the Shomron community of Itamar: Netanel Riachi, 17, of Kokhav Yaakov; Avraham Siton, 17, of Shilo; and Gil\'ad Shtieglitz, 15, of Yakir. All three are from communities in Judea and Samaria. Two boys were wounded, listed in light-to-moderate condition. Three hours earlier, Albert Maloul, 50, of Jerusalem, was murdered south of Ofrah as he and his cousin were driving back to Jerusalem from Eli. One or two terrorists waited in ambush in the same place where Assaf Hershkovitz was murdered a year ago. They fired only a few shots, but one of them proved fatal to Albert Maloul; his cousin was wounded and is listed in moderate condition.
In the Itamar attack, the terrorist murderer climbed over or through the community\'s surrounding fence. He first shot two students standing nearby, and then ran after several other students towards the basketball court. He continued shooting, as he did when he then ran into the dormitory. One student, who was miraculously unhurt, said that as he lay hiding under his bed, the terrorist came into the room three different times and sprayed the walls with bullets. At that point, the yeshiva guard and the community security officer arrived on the scene and shot and killed the terrorist.
Rabbi Nitzan Yamin, a resident of Itamar, was a hero of the night. He later recounted, \"I would say it took about 40 seconds from the time I woke up until I was outside, and then about 30 seconds until I reached the site... I took off my undershirt shirt and tzitzit (ritual fringes), because they were white and would make me stand out, and I started running towards the area. By the time I got there, Aryeh [the guard] had felled the terrorist with a bullet, but then he started to get up... I shot him a few times in the head, and took away his gun [Kalachnikov rifle]... Then we started to comb the area for a possible second terrorist... The children were in shock, but we gathered them in the Beit Medrash while we went from room to room to make sure there were no other terrorists.\"
The army immediately imposed a closure upon the nearby village Beit Furik. It is assumed that the terrorist, a resident of Shechem, hid out there for several hours before he attacked. Rabbi Avi Ronsky, who holds the rank of Col. in the reserves and a teacher at the yeshiva, said this morning that the army cut down on the number of IDF guards in Itamar last week. Arutz-7\'s Kobi Sela reports \"anger and frustration\" in Itamar at the reduction of the IDF protection in the yishuv. Residents said that until last week, reserves soldiers stood guard at the very point overlooking the valley from which the terrorist infiltrated, and that they had warned the authorities that the area held the potential for a terrorist entry.
Yesterday\'s four terrorist victims, as well as two others from the Monday bombing in Petach Tikvah, were buried today. Ruthie Peled, 56 and her 18-month-old granddaughter Sinai Keinan were laid to rest in the cemetery of Kibbutz Shfayim, and Avraham Maloul was buried in Givat Sha\'ul in Jerusalem this afternoon. Gil\'ad Shtieglitz was a student from another yeshiva high school who had come to Itamar two days before to consider transferring there; his friends said he was \"very happy\" during those two days. His funeral departed from Yakir for burial in the Barkan cemetery near Ariel.
Netanel Riachi\'s funeral began in Kokhav Yaakov shortly after noon and made its way to the Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem. Netanel\'s family was one of the founding families of Kokhav Yaakov, and he was the first baby born there. Elchanan Amar, one of the students who was able to escape the terrorist\'s murderous fire, said that his roommate Netanel was \"quiet, cheerful and always willing to help us in our studies.\"
The funeral of Avi Siton set off from the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva in Kiryat Moshe, Jerusalem towards Shilo, where he was interred. One of Avi\'s friends said, \"I don\'t know what I\'ll do without him, I loved him. He always greeted everyone so happily: \'How\'re you doing, my brother?\' - the guard, his friends, everyone. I don\'t know what we will do. How can we go on without him? He made everything happy... Now we have the matriculation exams. He was so happy with his high mark in the Gmara [Talmud] test yesterday... I don\'t know how we\'ll go on...\"