IDF demolishes West Bank home of Palestinian terrorist behind deadly July attack

House in village of Bazariya belonged to one of two assailants who fatally stabbed security guard Shalev Zvuluny outside a supermarket at Gush Etzion Junction, before being killed

IDF troops on Wednesday demolished the home of a Palestinian terrorist who carried out a deadly stabbing and shooting attack in the West Bank in July, the military said.

In the attack on July 10, Mahmoud Abed and Malik Salem fatally stabbed a security guard, Shalev Zvuluny, 22, outside a supermarket at the Gush Etzion Junction.

The assailants then snatched the guard’s handgun and exchanged fire with a soldier and an armed civilian before being killed.

The perpetrators, both 23, were Palestinian cops who served in the Palestinian Authority’s police force. Neither had been previously detained by Israel, a defense official said at the time.

The army said it operated in the West Bank village of Bazariya on Wednesday morning and demolished Salem’s home.

Abed’s home is also expected to be demolished by the army.

Hazem Yassine, head of the Bazariya municipal council, denounced what he called a “heinous crime,” presumably referring to the demolition.

He told AFP that Israeli forces had sealed off the village’s entrances since dawn in preparation for the house’s destruction.

“Schools were closed as a precaution,” he said, adding that the assailant’s family had moved out around a month ago after being notified of the decision to demolish the house.

An AFP photographer saw children climbing on piles of rubble after the demolition, waving the Palestinian flag.

As a matter of policy, Israel demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.

Israeli officials have said the policy is intended to dissuade Palestinians from planning terror attacks, as doing so will harm their extended families’ livelihood. Critics have called it collective punishment.