Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

10 hours ago

Will Valadao Spoil Trump’s Plan for July 4th ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Signing?

12 hours ago

Shaver Lake and Reedley 4th of July Shows Are Wednesday. Who Else Is Celebrating?

15 hours ago

Elon Musk Says Senate Bill Would Destroy Jobs and Harm US

15 hours ago

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

16 hours ago

Trump’s Administration Finds Harvard Violated Students’ Civil Rights, WSJ Reports

17 hours ago

How Did the Supreme Court Rule? Here’s a Look at the Big Cases

3 days ago
Israeli Troops Search West Bank After Killing of Soldier
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
August 8, 2019

Share

JERUSALEM — Israeli troops raided a Palestinian village on Thursday and the military said it was sending reinforcements to the West Bank, hours after the body of a 19-year-old soldier with stab wounds was found near a Jewish settlement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killing as a terror attack and vowed the killers would be brought to justice.
The killing threatened to inflame tensions between Israelis and Palestinians just over a month before Israel’s parliament elections. In response to the incident, Netanyahu’s nationalist allies called for further West Bank settlement construction and a heavy handed response.
The soldier was identified as 19-year-old Dvir Sorek, from the West Bank settlement of Ofra, north of Jerusalem. He was a student at a pre-military Jewish seminary in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, south of Jerusalem. His body was found on the side of a road near the seminary.
Army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said that the soldier was neither armed nor in uniform when his body was found. He said the military was investigating the circumstances of his death and searching for suspects.

More Troops Called Up to West Bank in Response

As part of the searches, a column of Israeli jeeps entered the nearby Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, a mile south of where the body was found. Soldiers blocked the road and searched homes.
The military said it was calling up more troops to the West Bank in response to the incident.

“We salute the hero fighters, sons of our people, who carried out the heroic operation which killed a soldier of the occupation army.”Hamas statement 
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamic militant group Hamas issued a statement praising the killing of the soldier.
“We salute the hero fighters, sons of our people, who carried out the heroic operation which killed a soldier of the occupation army,” Hamas said in a statement. The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad also hailed the killing as “heroic and bold.”
President Donald Trump’s Mideast negotiator, Jason Greenblatt, attacked Hamas’ statements, writing on his Twitter account that the militant group “chooses death & destruction over taking care of people they claim to lead.”
Rabbi Shlomo Wilk, head of Sorek’s yeshiva, told Israel Radio that the student had gone to Jerusalem to buy presents for the school’s faculty. Wilk said Sorek had called a friend and said he would return on time.
“When he was late, we started to worry,” Wilk said. “Fairly quickly we understood that something wasn’t right and we got the police involved.”
 

President Reuven Rivlin Offered Condolences

Sorek’s father, Yoav, is the editor of a Hebrew language Jewish history magazine and the Shiloach Journal of for Policy and Thought.

“Our prayers this morning are with the family of the murdered soldier and our hearts grieve for the life cut short. We fight terrorism without compromise to ensure the security of our people.” — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin
Dvir was the grandson of a prominent religious nationalist rabbi, Benjamin Herling, one of the forerunners of the settlement movement, who was killed by a Palestinian gunman near the West Bank city of Nablus in 2000.
Netanyahu visited the scene of the attack Thursday evening. Earlier, the prime minister said in a statement that security forces were “in pursuit now in order to capture the despicable terrorist and bring him to account.”
Speaking at the inauguration of new settlement homes in Beit El, north of Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel “will reach those who seek to harm us, we will strengthen our roots in our homeland.”
President Reuven Rivlin offered his condolences and said the security forces were “pursuing the murderers and will not rest until we find them.”
“Our prayers this morning are with the family of the murdered soldier and our hearts grieve for the life cut short,” Rivlin said. “We fight terrorism without compromise to ensure the security of our people.”

Palestinians Seek Territories as Part of Future State

Yuli Edelstein, the speaker of Israel’s parliament and a prominent figure in Netanyahu’s Likud party, responded to the attack on Israeli public radio Thursday saying “we should move in the direction of exercising sovereignty over our settlements. To make it clear that terrorism will not drive us away,” he said.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war.
The Palestinians seek the territories as part of a future state, with the occupied West Bank as the centerpiece and east Jerusalem as a capital.
Most of the international community considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal and an obstacle to creating a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel considers the territories “disputed,” and says the fate of the settlements should be determined through negotiations, which have been moribund for years.
The body of the soldier was found in the same region as the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers by Palestinian militants in the summer of 2014, an incident that helped precipitate a war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

DON'T MISS

Fresno Woman Killed in Head-On Collision, CHP Investigating

DON'T MISS

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

DON'T MISS

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

DON'T MISS

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

DON'T MISS

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

DON'T MISS

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

DON'T MISS

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

DON'T MISS

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

935 People Killed in Israeli Strikes on Iran, Official Says

UP NEXT

US Revokes Visas for Bob Vylan After Music Duo’s Glastonbury Chants

UP NEXT

Israel Acknowledges Palestinian Civilians Harmed at Gaza Aid Sites, Says ‘Lessons Learned’

UP NEXT

Suspect Identified in Ambush Shooting That Killed 2 Idaho Firefighters

UP NEXT

Israel Faces Genocide Accusations Amid Gaza Food Aid Killings

UP NEXT

Iran-Linked Hackers May Target US Firms and Critical Infrastructure, US Government Warns

UP NEXT

Israel Strikes Pound Gaza, Killing 60, Ahead of US Talks on Ceasefire

UP NEXT

US to Restart Trade Negotiations With Canada Immediately, White House Says

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Related to Syria Sanctions Easing, CBS News Reports

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

9 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

9 hours ago

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

9 hours ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

9 hours ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

9 hours ago

Where Trade Talks Stand With Major US Partners Ahead of Tariffs-Hike Deadline

9 hours ago

Labor Icon Huerta Breaks Ground on Fresno Park Bearing Her Name

10 hours ago

DOJ Announces Arrest, Indictments in North Korean IT Worker Scheme

10 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Clovis for Sex-Related Crimes Against Minor

10 hours ago

Dyer’s Lobbying Works. Fresno Gets $100M for Downtown From State

10 hours ago

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

The Clovis Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating an at-risk missing adult last seen on Thursday. Pathmani Goonawarde...

7 hours ago

Clovis Police are searching for Pathmani Goonawardena, 82, who went missing nearly three weeks ago and was last seen driving a white Volvo near Copper and Auberry, possibly en route to Coarsegold. (CHP)
7 hours ago

Clovis Police Seek Public’s Help in Finding Missing 82-Year-Old Woman

fresno
8 hours ago

Fresno Woman Killed in Head-On Collision, CHP Investigating

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk attend a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

Musk Vows to Punish Lawmakers Who Back Trump’s Spending Bill

9 hours ago

Fresno Man Sentenced to Nearly 6 Years for $4.2 Million Tech Startup Fraud

Bryan Koberger, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students, listens during a hearing to overturn his grand jury indictment in Moscow, Idaho, U.S., October 26, 2023. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

Bryan Kohberger Pleads Guilty in Murders of Four Idaho Students, ABC News Reports

The Blanca Fire, burning 12 acres northwest of Lake Madera Country Estates in Madera County, remains active with 0% containment and no reported injuries or structural damage as the cause is under investigation as of Monday, June 30, 2025. (CalFire)
9 hours ago

Wildfire Near Lake Madera Country Estates Burns 12 Acres, Now 100% Contained

Fresno County CHP arrested two on Interstate 5 after finding about one kilogram of suspected cocaine, a loaded ghost gun, and counterfeit money during a vehicle search on Sunday, June 29, 2025. (CHP)
9 hours ago

Fresno County CHP Arrest Two in Interstate 5 Drug, Gun, and Counterfeit Money Bust

Gov. Newsom warns Californians to celebrate the Fourth of July safely, emphasizing zero tolerance for illegal fireworks which have surged to over 600,000 pounds seized this year. (Shutterstock)
9 hours ago

California Seizes Over 600,000 Pounds of Illegal Fireworks. Newsom Calls for Safe Celebrations

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend