Mob attacks Jewish hikers in Gush Etzion; security guard kills Arab attacker with prior shepherd-attack record

Elisha Yered reports that dozens of rioters from the village of Se'ir attacked a group of religious hikers with stones, gathering in a house on a nearby ridge overlooking the access road before striking as the hikers passed. A local security officer who rushed to the scene was attacked at close range with a rock and opened fire in self-defense, killing the attacker. The report identifies him as Karim Shalaldeh, a resident of the Hamrush outpost established in recent years by Se'ir village above the access road to the Gush Etzion communities.

The report states that Shalaldeh had taken part, about a month earlier, in another violent attack: together with other rioters, masked and carrying a club, he threw stones at shepherds on a nearby hill, injuring two who were hospitalized. Police later arrested three suspects among his relatives, but he himself was never arrested. The report adds that the house the attackers emerged from has long been flagged as a known trouble spot; about a month earlier, a woman living there was filmed leaving the home and setting fires in open land and was arrested by security forces, though residents of the house are said to have carried out further attacks on Jewish residents in the area since.

C14 English reports that dozens of Arab rioters attacked Jewish hikers in the eastern Gush Etzion region, with reports from the scene describing an attempted lynching. A local security officer who rushed to evacuate the hikers was attacked at close range with a large rock and opened fire in self-defense, killing the attacker. Arab media identified him as Karim Shalaldeh, and the report notes he had taken part about a month earlier in a masked rock-and-club attack that injured two Jewish shepherds, though he was never arrested.

The Israel Police Spokesperson's Unit said the Judea District investigation into the previous night's incident at the edge of Se'ir led, through intelligence gathering, to IDF soldiers locating and arresting three Palestinian residents of the village overnight, who were handed to police investigators at the Etzion station. The statement describes the incident as: rioters throwing stones at a group of Israeli hikers at the edge of the village (Area B), endangering their lives; a security officer summoned to the scene firing to protect the hikers; and, following that, waste being burned in a structure under construction. It says the security officer fired a warning shot and then fired at several Palestinians who continued to endanger the hikers before IDF forces arrived to extract the group and disperse the rioters. The three suspects — two brothers from Se'ir, ages 51 and 45, and another resident, age 46 — were under questioning at the time of the statement, with further proceedings to depend on the investigation's findings; police said intelligence-gathering to identify additional suspects was continuing.