The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday it would demolish the home of a Palestinian terrorist who murdered seven people in Jerusalem last month.
On January 27, 21-year-old Alqam Khayri went on a shooting spree in the capital’s Neve Yaakov neighborhood, killing Asher Natan, 14, Eli, 48, and Natali Mizrahi, 45, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Irina Korolova, 59, and Shaul Hai, 68.
Khayri was shot dead by police officers as he fled the scene.
In the days after the attack, Israeli police sealed off Khayri’s home in the A-Tur neighborhood of East Jerusalem, following a decision made by the high-level security cabinet. The move was meant to be temporary until a potential demolition.
Khayri’s family was formally notified on Wednesday of the military’s intention to raze their home, the Israel Defense Forces said.
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As a matter of policy, Israel regularly demolishes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out deadly terror attacks.
21-year-old Alqam Khayri, the suspected gunman in a Jerusalem terror shooting January 27, 2023, that killed seven people, is seen in an undated photo at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque (Social media)
Khayri’s family can still appeal the decision to raze the home to Israel’s High Court of Justice. But such attempts rarely succeed, though in some cases the court can limit the demolition order to only the parts of the house used by the terrorist.
The January shooting — the deadliest Palestinian terror attack since 2008 — came as tensions were high in the West Bank.
The IDF has pressed on with an anti-terror offensive to deal with a series of attacks that left 31 people in Israel dead in 2022, and seven more in the attack in Jerusalem.
Victims killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem on January 27, 2023, clockwise from top right: Asher Natan, 14, Eli, 48, and Natali Mizrahi, 45, Ilya Sosansky, 26, Rafael Ben Eliyahu, 56, Irina Korolova, 59, and Shaul Hai, 68. (Courtesy)
The IDF’s operation has netted more than 2,500 arrests in near-nightly raids. It also left 171 Palestinians dead in 2022, and another 42 since the beginning of the year, many of them while carrying out attacks or during clashes with security forces, though some were uninvolved civilians.
