IDF razes home of PA security member involved in deadly shooting of Rabbi Mark

Dura resident Abd Al-Majid Amaira, 38, allegedly acted as the driver in the deadly drive-by terrorist shooting in July.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Updated: AUGUST 31, 2016 02:25
Israeli forces demolish West Bank house of Palestinian involved in July shooting attack that killed Rabbi Michael Mark (photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
Israeli forces demolish West Bank house of Palestinian involved in July shooting attack that killed Rabbi Michael Mark
(photo credit: IDF SPOKESMAN’S UNIT)
The IDF and Border Police early Tuesday morning demolished the home of Palestinian Authority security forces member Muhammad Abd Al-Majid Amaira, the driver in the July terrorist attack that killed Rabbi Michael Mark.
The predawn demolition by security forces working together with the Civil Administration, on government orders, took place in the West Bank town of Dura, seven kilometers southwest of Hebron.
Amaira, who has been in Israeli custody since mid-July, confessed after his arrest to being the driver in the July 1 shooting attack on Route 60 that killed Mark and wounded two of his family members.
Muhammad Fakia, the gunman in the attack, was killed in an exchange of fire with the IDF in the West Bank village of Tzurif, near Hebron on July 27 when Fakia barricaded himself inside a home, and opened fire on security personnel with a Kalashnikov rifle.
Prior to that exchange of fire, security forces had arrested Amaira, 38, in connection with the attack. According to the Shin Bet, he confessed to acting as the driver as Fakia fired shots out of the moving vehicle at the Mark family on Route 60, near Otniel.
Fakia’s brother, who confessed to helping the gunman hide and stowing away the rifle after the attack, is also in Israeli custody.
The uncle of the two brothers, Ma’az Fakia, was also arrested, and said during questioning that he hosted Fakia at his home in the days following the shooting attack. Additional members of Fakia’s family also have been arrested on suspicion of assisting him and helping him hide.