IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ran Kochav addressed the recent terrorist attacks Sunday morning following the murder of a security guard at the entrance to Ariel and said that Hamas was not directing the attacks, which presents a different challenge for the security system.
"The terrorists are not affiliated with a terrorist organization and have acted without direction with improvised weapons of the Carlo type. The five attacks carried out since March 22 are not directed by Hamas or any other terrorist organization - it makes it difficult and challenging for us," Kochav said in an interview with Kan Bet.
He added, "25 battalions of soldies are deployed at the seam line and Judea and Samaria and are carrying out counterterrorism operations. We manage to thwart a lot of warnings, that's not what happened in Ariel."
According to him, there is nothing unique in the fact that the security at the entrance to the city of Ariel is carried out by a civilian company. "It's a matter of policy. The security guard, like many security guards, was a skilled fighter, who did it while he was a student at Ariel University. I think the decision is right."
The mayor of Ariel, Eli Shaviru, said that at the end of the military investigation, lessons will be learned about the security system. "The routine of life in the city will continue and it will be possible for Palestinian workers to enter the industrial area. We are a good example of coexistence. There is relative peace here and no one has a security certificate," Shaviru said.
This morning, the IDF published footage the moments of the arrest of the terrorists who carried out the deadly shooting attack in Ariel in which security guard Vyacheslav Golev was murdered at the entrance to Ariel on Friday night.
At the time of the attack, Golev was standing guard along with another security guard, his fiancée Victoria Fligelman, and physically protected her from the terrorists.
Golev, a member of a haredi family, studied in his youth at Yeshivat Amit in Beit Shemesh, later at Ariel University and lived in the city. He is survived by his parents and seven brothers and sisters.
The terrorists and their weapons were apprehended in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, where the Hamas terrorist organization enjoys broad support, the IDF said. They were arrested in two different houses and there is no family connection between them, but the defense establishment fears that they are part of a cell meant to carry out an attack sponsored by one of the major terrorist organizations.