The IDF destroyed the home of Hamas terrorist Ziad Awad in the Palestinian village of Idna on Wednesday.
Awad - released in the 2011 Gilad Schalit deal – has been charged by a military court for killing police officer Baruch Mizrahi and wounding two children when he opened fire with an automatic weapon on their car on Passover eve on Route 35.
The Shin Bet said Awad stood by the side of the road, near Tarkumia checkpoint, shooting at passing Israeli vehicles, including the one driven by Mizrahi. A child in a second car hit by gunfire was also injured.
Awad had previously been in prison for murdering Palestinians he accused of cooperating with Israel.
"The destruction of the homes of terrorists is a message of deterrence to terrorists and their partners," the army said. "There is a price they will pay if they choose to continue with terrorist activities and harming innocent civilians," it added.
Security sources said last month that Awad acquired a motorcycle and the machine gun, and planned the attack in detail. A week before the shooting he scouted out the location to gather intelligence, according to the Shin Bet. After the killing, Awad told his son, Aladdin, that he carried out the shooting for religious reasons and that “according to Islam, anyone who kills a Jew goes to heaven,” the Shin Bet said.
A senior army source said of the shooting, “This attack was planned thoroughly ahead of time. He is a Hamas member, and he used a standard [automatic weapon] to fire on the vehicle, before fleeing the scene on a motorcycle.”
The Shin Bet, the police’s counter terrorism unit, the police’s crime scene investigation officers, and the IDF all joined forces to track Awawd down, the source said.
