One Israeli killed, two wounded in settlement infiltration

Yotam Ovadia, 31, a father of two small children died at the Hadassah Medical Center at Mt. Scopus after he was stabbed to death near his home in the West Bank settlement of Adam.

His will be buried at 1 p.m. in Jerusalem’s Har HaMenuchot Cemetery.

According to Hadassah hospital, the 31-year old arrived in critical condition with severe wounds and died after being treated in the emergency room for several hours following the attack.

Two other Adam residents were stabbed after a  Palestinian terrorist infiltrated Adam, located just outside of Jerusalem.

One of the victims, 58, is receiving at Jerusalem Hadassah Medical Center at Mt. Scopus.

A third victim, 41, who was lightly injured was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and released on Friday morning. He had come to the aid of the first two victims and was also attacked before shooting the terrorist to death.

President Reuevn Riviln sent condolences to the bereaved family and prayers to the recovering victims. “We won’t let terror rear its ugly head,” Rivlin said.

A spokesperson for the Adam settlement said that the terrorist was able to jump over the fence and run 300 meters to the first street, where he stabbed the first two victims.

Adam residents were asked to stay in their homes, until security forces completed a search of the settlement of some 5,000 residents to ensure that no additional terrorists had entered the community.

The community is located on the edge of Route 60, near one of the entry ways to the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Security forces plan to conduct an operational activity in the village of Kober, where the 17-year-old terrorist lived, according to IDF spokesman Brig. General Ronen Manelis. The terrorist who infiltrated the Neveh Tzuf settlement last year and killed three members of the Salomon family also came from the Kober village.

Military intelligence and the Shin Bet and are checking to see if there is any connection between the two attacks.

Binyamin Regional Council deputy head Israel Ganz said that such a seriously incident can not pass in silence.

He called on Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman to take action against terrorist infrastructures in the West Bank and to give final approval to a plan for 1,000 new housing units in the settlement.

Hamas praised the attack in an official statement, saying “We praise the heroic action, which is a natural response to Israel’s crimes … this is a continuation of the Intifada.”

Earlier in the day, Fathi Hamad, a hardline Hamas official, called on Muslims to kill Zionist Jews wherever they find them, in a speech at a funeral at the Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City.

“O Muslims, wherever you find a Zionist Jew, you must kill him because that is an expression of your solidarity with the al-Aqsa Mosque and an expression of your solidarity with… your Jerusalem, your Palestine and… your people,” said Hamad, a member of the Hamas politburo.

Anna Ahronheim contributed to this report.