WATCH: IDF destroys home of terrorist who killed border-police officer

The home of Hadas Malka's killer was destroyed Thursday after being sealed by security forces last week.

By ANNA AHRONHEIM
Updated: AUGUST 18, 2017 03:08
IDF Blows up the home of terrorist who killed border police woman Hadas Malka (courtesy IDF)
Security forces have demolished the house of the Palestinian terrorist who killed border policewoman Hadas Malka in June, the IDF said on Thursday.
The home of Adel Ankush, which was sealed by IDF troops last week, was demolished using a controlled explosion.
On June 16, Ankush, Bra’a Saleh, Usama Atta, armed with knives and firearms, carried out a coordinated attack in two locations near Jerusalem’s Old City. Hadas Malka, 23, was critically stabbed while attempting to reach for her gun to stop the attack.
All assailants were shot and killed by security forces responding to the attack.
Following the attack a riot broke out as IDF troops raided the homes of the three Palestinians who had taken part in the attack which killed Malka. Around 200 Palestinians in the West Bank village of Deir Abu- Mashal, near Ramallah, hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails and tried to block entrances to the village with burning ties.
The army informed the families in mid-July that their homes would be destroyed and gave them 72 hours to challenge the IDF’s decision. The families of Atta and Saleh petitioned the High Court of Justice to prevent the demolition and it was ruled that the IDF would not demolish the ground floor of the homes but would instead destroy only the second story of their homes and would seal off the second story of Ankush’s home.
The IDF last week demolished the homes of Saleh and Atta and it is unclear why the IDF destroyed Ankush’s home after sealing it off last week.
The IDF along with border police and personnel from the Civil Administration for Judea and Samaria also demolished the home of Malek Ahmad Mousa Hamed, 21, from Silwad, near Ramallah. His family also petitioned the High Court to stop the demolition but the court rejected their appeal.
In April, Sgt. Elchai Taharlev was killed after he was struck by a Palestinian driver at the Ofra junction on Route 60, northeast of Ramallah.
The driver, 21-year-old Malek Ahmad Mousa from the nearby town of Silwad, served four months in jail for attempting an attack at the settlement of Adam last year, military officials said. It was the ninth attack in the past two years carried out by residents of Silwad.
On Wednesday, the IDF razed the bottom floor of an apartment building that belonged to the family of 19-year-old Omar al-Abed responsible for the stabbing attack in Halamish.
On July 21, Abed, from the nearby village of Kobar near Ramallah, infiltrated the settlement of Halamish and entered a family home where he stabbed to death Yossi, Elad and Chaya Salomon, and wounding the mother of the family, Tova Salomon.
According to Palestinian Ma’an News, violent riots broke out during the demolition. It quoted Palestinian Red Crescent as saying that 12 Palestinians were hit with rubber-coated bullets and another 13 were treated for excessive tear-gas inhalation.
While some NGOs and human rights organizations criticize the army for using collective punishment by demolishing the homes of the terrorist’s families, the IDF believes they are a key deterrent to stop other potential attackers.
Since October 2015 Palestinians have stabbed, run over and shot Israeli soldiers and civilians, including some tourists, in a wave of violence.
While the violence has since decreased since its peak in the winter of 2016 when there were almost daily attacks, there have been several deadly attacks in recent months.
According to authorities some 300 Palestinians, a majority of them attackers, have been killed by Israeli forces.


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