Five
family members were found murdered in their residence in the West Bank
Itamar settlement Friday overnight, after a suspected terrorist broke
and entered the house and stabbed the five to death. Two children
managed to escape and survived the attack, Army Radio reported.
A Magen David Adom team that arrived at the scene at 1:00 a.m.
announced a couple, their 11-year old child, 3-year-old toddler, and a
one-month
baby girl dead from stabbing wounds.
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Palestinian
media on Saturday reported that a faction of Fatah's al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigade claimed responsibility for the stabbing incident.
Residents of the settlement reported that shots were heard in the area and that the terrorist succeeded in fleeing from the scene.
Police set out in search of the suspect in the
Itamar settlement, which is near Nablus, as well as in the surrounding villages of Awarta,
Beit Pouriq, and Beir Mouksaifa. Authorities requested that Itamar residents stay indoors.
The IDF arrested 20 people in the Nablus area in connection with the attack.
The IAF deployed numerous aircraft in the area in an attempt to locate the perpetrators of the attack.
Initial reports said that an armed terrorist cut the fence surrounding the settlement and stabbed to death the couple and their children. It was not yet clear whether more than one terrorist was involved in the attack.
According to the settler Yeasha council, about 100
families live in Itamar.
There was a similar attack on the settlement during a
Palestinian uprising in 2002, when a gunman broke into a house
and opened fire, killing four members of one family and a neighbor.
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