IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi arrived on Sunday evening at the scene of the shooting attack in the Jordan Valley, in which Yehonatan Deutsch was murdered and another civilian was moderately wounded.
Halevi conducted a situational assessment and an initial inquiry at the site with the Chief of Staff of the Central Command, the Commander of the Jordan Valley Brigade, representatives of the local council, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), the Israel Police and other commanders.
The Chief of Staff said at the scene, "Our mission is to catch these terrorists and reach them before attacks occur; here, we did not succeed. The clock counting down to catch the terrorist cell that carried out this attack is ticking backwards.
He clarified, “We will reach them; we will continue to fight terrorism, accompanied with the deep sorrow for every victim of this terrorist attack, we will only strengthen our operations against terrorism."
Deutsch, the 23-year-old from Beit She'an who was murdered in the shooting, was released last week from active service in the IDF's elite Maglan Unit and saw intense combat during the first months of the war in Gaza.
Yehonatan, who was scheduled to wed in the coming weeks, was on the way to his fiancée's hometown of Ofra when he was gunned down.
Deutsch graduated from the Beit She'an Yeshiva High School, was a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and volunteered a good deal in his city. He is survived by his parents, four brothers, and one sister.
According to a preliminary investigation, two terrorists fired at least eight bullets at the two vehicles traveling on the eastbound Highway 90. The terrorist carried out the attack with a rifle and the two attacked vehicles were 250 meters apart from each other.