IDF Chief of Staff, Aviv Kohavi, arrived on Sunday afternoon at the scene of the shooting attack which took place on Saturday night, during which an IDF soldier, the late Sergeant Noa Lazar, was murdered near the Shuafat Crossing.
During his visit, the Chief of the General Staff conducted an initial debrief and spoke with commanders and soldiers of Company B of the “Erez” Battalion, where Sergeant Lazar served.
The Chief of the General Staff visited the area alongside the Head of the Manpower Directorate (J1), MG Yaniv Asor, the Commander of the Jerusalem District Police, Superintendent Doron Turgeman, the Commissioner of the Israel Border Police, Superintendent Amir Cohen, the Chief Officer of the Military Police, BG Avihai Meivar, the Commissioner of the Jerusalem Regional Border Police, Deputy Superintendent Amram Nidam, the Commanding Officer of the “Benyamin” Brigade, COL Eliav Elbaz, the Commanding Officer of the “Erez” Battalion, LTC Hagai Sin Itzik and additional commanders.
“We are meeting under painful circumstances. However, this is still a chance to express gratitude to you, the commanders and soldiers, for your continuous activity throughout the year,” said Kohavi.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to send my condolences to the Lazar family. I embrace them at these moments and wish them strength,” he added.
“You, the soldiers, together with additional IDF combat units and Israeli security forces, constitute our first line of defense. Thanks to your ongoing efforts, terrorist attacks are being prevented and counterterrorism activity is carried out on a daily basis,” said the Chief of Staff.
“Your efforts are a continuation of the IDF’s activity along the Judea and Samaria Security Barrier and in various roads and across Judea and Samaria as part of Operation “Break the Wave” in recent months. Alongside these efforts, we will need to learn from this incident and draw the appropriate conclusions in order to prevent incidents of this sort from repeating themselves in the future - this is our responsibility and we will do so with deep commitment.”
“Be proud of what you do. Despite the difficulties you face, I wish you a happy holiday, and hope you will continue to defend and protect the civilians of the State of Israel through your activity,” concluded Kohavi.
The IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said, “The IDF shares in the grief of the Lazar family and will continue to support them at this time.”
Meanwhile, the manhunt for the terrorist who carried out the attack continues. Overnight Saturday, the Israel Police and Border Police arrested four for questioning, on suspicion of involvement in the attack. On Sunday afternoon, a court extended the detention of the four suspects by eight days.
The Israel Police, Border Police, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the IDF, are continuing the manhunt for the terrorist and are accompanied by a police helicopter.
Palestinian Arab sources reported that in recent hours, the IDF focused its searches in the area of the town of Palestinian Arab town of Anata, east of Pisgat Ze'ev.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Sukkot in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)