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Manhunt underway for terrorist who killed 2 Israelis execution style

Police are on the hunt for a Palestinian-Arab terrorist who tied up two employees at the Barkan Industrial Park in Samaria and shot them at close range Sunday morning.

By: Adina Katz, World Israel News

A 23-year-old terrorist from the nearby village of Shweika, near Tulkarem, handcuffed and shot two employees Sunday morning at the Barkan Industrial Park in Samaria at close range with a Carl Gustav assault rifle.

The victims were named as Kim Levengrond Yehezkel, 28, a mother from the central Israeli city of Rosh Ha’ayin, and Ziv Hajbi, a 35-year-old father of three from Rishon LeZion, south of Tel Aviv.

A 54-year-old woman was shot and wounded by the terrorist after spotting him. She told paramedics that she heard a loud noise and went to check its source, Ynet reported.

“This was a very severe terrorist attack in which two Israelis were brutally murdered and a citizen was also wounded,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

“The security forces are in pursuit of the reprehensible murderer. I am certain that they will apprehend him and I am also certain that we will deal with him to the fullest extent of the law and quickly,” he said. “On behalf of myself and all government ministers I would like to send condolences to the families of the two people who were murdered and our hopes and prayers for a swift recovery for the woman who was wounded.”

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President Reuven Rivlin issued a statement, saying he was “shocked and saddened by this morning’s terrible terrorist attack at the Barkan industrial area. Our hearts are with the families of those who were killed, and our prayers are with those who are injured.

“This was not only an attack on innocent people going about their daily lives, it was also an attack on the possibility of Israelis and Palestinians co-existing peacefully,” he said. The Barkan Industrial Park includes approximately  120 businesses and factories and a workforce of 20,000, half of them Palestinian Arabs.

The terrorist, in fact, was employed at one of the factories.

“I call on the Palestinian leadership to condemn this murderous attack and to use the forces at their disposal to capture the terrorist and those who aided him,” Rivlin declared. “We will not rest until every one of them is brought to justice.”