IDF demolishes house of Palestinian murderer of 13-year-old Hallel Ariel

Tarayrah stabbed Ariel to death in her bedroom on June 30 and injured another resident while infiltrating the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron.

AUGUST 15, 2016 07:32

Updated: AUGUST 16, 2016 02:56

The IDF early Monday morning announced that it had carried out a partial demolition of the multiple-floor residence of the family of Muhammad Tarayrah, 17, in the Palestinian village of Bani Naim, located near Kiryat Arba, where he murdered 13-year-old Hallel Yaffa Ariel in June.

Tarayrah stabbed Ariel to death in her bedroom on June 30 and wounded another resident while infiltrating the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, next to Hebron.

During the demolition, around 40 Palestinians clashed with the IDF soldiers who came to carry out the demolition of one of the three floors of the residence, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at them.

The IDF forces dispersed the rioters with stun grenades, and did not report casualties to either side.

House demolitions of terrorist residences have increased since the start of what some consider the “third intifada,” which began with tensions in the fall of 2015. Although a panel of Israeli security experts had found in 2005 that demolitions were ineffective in deterring terrorism and placed a moratorium on the practice for some years, the government reversed that decision in the years that followed.

Many have petitioned against house demolitions and the High Court of Justice has started to push back on some of them in cases in which there was less evidence of the terrorist’s family knowing about the intentions of the assailant. In other cases, some believe demolitions would harm adjacent properties.

Nevertheless, most of them have been allowed to go forward.

Monday’s demolition was believed to be the quickest one the IDF has carried out, with a time lapse of under two months since the attack.

“My daughter was sleeping calmly when he [the terrorist] came into her bedroom,” the girl’s mother, Rena Ariel, told reporters outside the hospital at the time of the incident. A Magen David Adom paramedic said at the time that when he arrived at the scene the teenage girl was unconscious and not breathing. They were able to resuscitate her at the scene, but it was touch-andgo during the ride to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, as they fought to keep her alive.

She never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.

The settlement’s security team quickly found, shot and killed Tarayrah. One of its members, Shuki Gilboa, 31, was wounded during the attempted arrest.

According to his Facebook posts Tarayrah was partially inspired by a vehicular terrorist attack just outside of Kiryat Arba in which an Israeli couple was lightly wounded.

An IDF unit responded to the attack, and shot and killed the female Palestinian driver.

Tarayrah mentioned her in his posts, under the hashtag – “a sister to bravery.”

Tovah Lazaroff and Mayan Groisman contributed to this report.