On Thursday night, IDF Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir conducted a preliminary inquiry at the scene of the terrorist attack at the Gush Etzion Junction, in which Shalev Zevuloni, a 22-year-old civilian, was murdered.
Along with the Chief of the General Staff were the Commander of Central Command, MG Avi Bluth, and the Commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, BG Yaki Dolf.
The Chief of the General Staff noted that this was a severe terrorist attack and shared his condolences with the victim’s family.
The Chief of the General Staff instructed the soldiers to continue counterterrorism operations throughout Judea and Samaria and emphasized that the rapid response, alertness, and vigilance of the IDF soldiers and civilian security personnel helped prevent a much larger and more severe attack.
On Thursday night, it was revealed that the two terrorists who murdered Zevuloni at the Rami Levi shopping complex at the Gush Etzion Junction and were eliminated were officers in the Palestinian Authority security forces.
The two were police officers, Mahmoud A'abed, 23, from Halhul in Gush Etzion, and Salim Malik, from the Shechem (Nablus) area. One of them even studied in the military academy in Qatar.
Israel's Channel 12 reported that the PA security forces announced the creation of an inquiry commission after it failed to foil the attack by its two officers.
New details show that the terrorists spent 40 minutes searching for parking inside the complex before attempting to enter the supermarket and shoot innocent civilians. However, they encountered a locked door. One of the terrorists shot the security guard at close range, and it is clear that the security guard was killed by the terrorists’ gunfire, not by Israeli forces.