Hamas praised the murder and by linking it to the 50-year old arson, seemed to be making good on a threat they made earlier in the week.
Three Jewish family members, a father and his two children, were severely injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated at the Ein Dani Spring near the Ein Buvin natural spring near the town of Dolev in the Shomron (Samaria) at around 10:15 Friday morning. The young woman died from her wounds and was buried Friday afternoon.
Times of Israel reported that Hamas in a statement said the bomb attack was “proof of the vitality and bravery of the Palestinian people, and of the fact that it will not surrender to the crimes and terrorism of the occupation.” The terrorist group that was democratically elected to rule in Gaza did not take credit for the murder but stated that it was connected to an arson attack carried out by a Christian Australian citizen on August 21, 1969. The attack damaged a pulpit in the Aqsa Mosque. The perpetrator was tried, found to be insane, and hospitalized in a mental institution.
This claim linking Friday’s murder to the 50-year-old arson was consistent with a threat Hamas made earlier in the week. In a press release on Tuesday, Hamas urged Palestinians to take to the streets to protest on the 50th anniversary of an arson attack that took place in 1969.
“We call upon all Palestinians, along with all Hamas members and officials, to express their outrage and participate in the massive popular and peaceful activity next Friday in order to face off the Israeli and US schemes and back Palestinian defenders of al-Aqsa”, Hamas said in the press release.
In his sermon on Friday in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh praised the murderous attack on a Jewish family on Friday that claimed the life of a 17-year-old Jewish girl.
“[The attack] shows that the default state in the West Bank is one of resistance, despite what our residents suffer there. The West Bank has strong people who are no less faithful and steadfast than their brethren in Gaza,” he said.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) also praised the terrorist attack.
“a natural response to the actions of occupation forces and settler gangs against the Palestinian people.” It said “resistance lives and is expanding… will continue to escalate as long as the aggression against our people continues.”
PIJ is the second largest terrorist group in Gaza and is responsible for many of the rocket attacks on Israel.
Security forces are still carrying out a manhunt to find those responsible for the attack.
