Police are searching for the killer of a yeshiva student who was stabbed to death and found outside a settlement in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank on Thursday morning.
IDF spokesperson Ronen Manelis described the killing of 19-year-old student Dvir Sorek as “a serious terror attack”, adding that there were details of the murder still under a gag order imposed by the Shin Bet intelligence agency.
Mr Sorek was from the Ofra settlement, and was studying at a religious seminary in Migdal Oz.
He went missing on a Wednesday morning. Officials believe he may have been kidnaped before his body was dumped near his yeshiva.
He had joined the military while continuing his studies and was unarmed and not in uniform at the time of the attack.
His family said they had lost contact with the teenager as he made his way back to the seminary after a trip to Jerusalem.
His body was discovered at 3 am along a road leading to Migdal Oz, a settlement south of Bethlehem.
Rabbi Shlomo Wilk, the principal of his seminary, told Army Radio: “He went to Jerusalem to buy gifts for his rabbis and on the way back there was an attack. He was found clutching the books that he’d bought.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Security forces are now engaged in a manhunt to catch the reprehensible terrorist and settle the account.”
Shin Bet said it had uncovered several cells in the West Bank in recent weeks that were operating under the instruction of Hamas.
They were planning to carry out attacks on Israeli and Palestinian Authority targets, the agency added.
19-year-old Corporal Dvir Sorek was stabbed and killed in a terrorist attack early this morning, while neither armed nor in uniform, close to the Yeshiva where he was studying.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) August 8, 2019
May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/JrJdlJGlUM
Mr Sorek was the son of Yoav Sorek, the editor of the influential Tikvah Fund’s Shiloach Journal, and the grandson of Rabbi Binyamin Herling, who was killed in a terror attack on October 19, 2000.
The army said large numbers of troops were conducting searches throughout the Etzion area south of Jerusalem.
Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Hamas congratulated the perpetrators, calling it the “most powerful response to the discourse over the attempt to annex the occupied West Bank.
“The attack proves Israel failed at preventing the resistance.”
It added: “This is proof the resistance among our people in the West Bank is ongoing and that the young will not stop the fight…..until the occupation is removed and the settlers are expelled.”
Yachad, a UK-based group advocating a two-state solution, said the attack was “heartbreaking.”
A spokesperson said: “Our prayers are with Dvir's family. May he be the last victim of this painful conflict.”
