Arab rioters hurled stones at Israel Defense Forces’ soldiers in the Palestinian Authority-controlled Hebron region on Wednesday morning during operations to apprehend terror suspects, according to IDF reports.
Israeli security forces responded to the violence with riot-control measures and live fire.
The IDF said that it would investigate the death of one of the attackers, 15-year-old Zaid Jamil Al-Fayoumi, who was shot during the riots.
The clashes occurred as IDF troops arrested suspects involved in the killing of 21-year-old IDF Staff Sgt. Amit Ben-Yigal of the Golani Brigade, who was hit in the head by a cinder block during a raid in the Arab village of Yabed in Samaria on Tuesday morning. Ben-Yigal received first aid at the scene and was airlifted to Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, where he was pronounced dead.
A large-scale manhunt is underway for Ben-Yigal’s killers, with IDF troops, including soldiers from the Duvdevan unit, and Israeli Security Services operatives engaged in the search.
Hundreds of mourners attended Ben-Yigal’s funeral on Tuesday evening at the Be’er Yaakov military cemetery in central Israel.
JNS