Anatomy Of A Manhunt

Intelligence information was lacking, but the tracks, the IDF’s massive presence in Awarta, exceptional cooperation between the various security arms, and traces left behind by the terrorists led to the arrests of the two Palestinians who murdered a whole family in Itamar.

The effort to solve this case was unusual in at least one respect: There was no intelligence information pointing to potential suspects, unlike other terror attacks in Judea and Samaria in recent years. This time, the Shin Bet and IDF had no indicators, and therefore army forces and Shin Bet investigators had to be deployed massively in order to produce information that would enable authorities to reach the killers.

The manhunt for the suspects, which ended in recent days, got underway at 1 am, about an hour after the Fogel family was massacred. An IDF tracker examined Itamar’s fence and spotted slight indications that the two killers climbed it. Initially they attempted to cut the fence, but ultimately changed their mind, either because their equipment didn’t work properly, or because they feared that the fence would electrocute them.

After crossing the fence, the killers entered a home where they found an M-16 rifle. From there they continued to the Fogel family home. After murdering the parents, Udi and Ruth, and the children, Yoav, Elad and Hadas, they climbed the fence and fled. The tracker, accompanied by an IDF force, followed the tracks left by the killers to one of the streets in the nearby village of Awarta. The tracks disappeared there. However, the killers left various signs behind that made it easier for the police to confirm their identity after they were nabbed.


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