Officers from the Judea and Samaria District Police paused on Tuesday at precisely 7:04 a.m. to observe a moment of silence in memory of Superintendent Arik Ben Eliyahu, Sergeant Major Roni Shakuri, and Command Sergeant Major Hadas Brentz, marking two years since their murder. The moment of silence was observed by all district stations and at the scene of the attack near Tarqumiya on Route 35.
The three officers were murdered in a shooting attack on September 1st, 2024, as they were making their way in a police vehicle from their homes to the Judea Precinct where they served. The attack occurred on the first day of the school year, as the three traveled to their shift.
Before his murder, Superintendent Arik Ben Eliyahu served as the regional training officer. That morning, he insisted on arriving early as part of the police preparations in the area. He resided in Kiryat Hat with his wife, Moran, and three children. He was 37 when he fell.
Command Sergeant Major Hadas Brentz served as head of an intelligence assessment desk and brought experience from her service in a classified IDF unit and in key police units in the Southern and Judea and Samaria districts. She lived in Moshav Sde Moshe with her husband, Amnon, and their three children. She was 53 when she was killed.
Sergeant Major Roni Shakuri worked at the vehicle repair shop at the Hebron station of the police’s Logistics Support Division. His friends and commanders said his smile made the workshop a place officers visited even when their vehicles did not need repairs, and that his family was the center of his life.
Just 11 months before he was murdered in the terrorist attack, Shukri lost his daughter, Mor, who served at the Sderot police station. Mor was killed on October 7 during the battle for the station, alongside eight of her colleagues.
Despite the family tragedy, Roni continued working at the Hebron repair shop and, according to police, made sure he was the first to arrive every morning. He lived in Sderot with his wife, Ayala, and was the father of two daughters. He was 61 when he was killed.
Judea and Samaria District commander Deputy Commissioner Moshe Pinchi said at the ceremony: “Two years have passed since that terrible morning, but for us, Roni, Hadas and Arik are not memories from the past. They remain an inseparable part of the Judea and Samaria District family and our legacy.
“This morning, we paused at the exact hour their lives were cut short to remember those who shared our mission and paid the heaviest price of all." He added that the district’s officers continue to uphold their path and values in carrying out their mission.
Over the past year, the Judea and Samaria District established the Ro’eh Unit, whose Hebrew name is composed of the names Roni, Arik, and Hadas. According to Pinchi, it is a special operational unit tasked with thwarting terrorist and criminal activity along roads in Judea and Samaria.