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Photos:
Aharon Bennett, 21, (left) and Nehemia Lavi, 41, were killed in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem on October 3, 2015. Courtesy, published by Haaretz

Scene of demolition. Credit: MaanImages
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by Gili Cohen for Haaretz

The Israeli army said it has demolished the home of a Palestinian identified as the assailant behind a stabbing attack in Jerusalem from October that left two ultra-Orthodox Israelis dead.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces shot and killed two Palestinian they said attempted to stab them at a cross point in the northern West Bank.

The IDF said early Saturday it had razed the home of Muhannad Halabi of the village of Surda near Ramallah who was named as the murderer of Nehemia Lavi, 41, of Jerusalem and Aharon Bennett, 21, of Beitar Illit.

The Halabi family reportedly left their home in wake of the attack, moving to in Ramallah in anticipation of the demolition, dpa reported. Clashed were also reported between local from the village and IDF forces during the demolition. According to Palestinian medical reports, at least three people were lightly hurt during the altercation.

Halabi stabbed the two during the evening of October 3 at Jerusalem's Old City, also wounding Bennett's wife and toddler son. Halabi was allegedly urged to undertake the attack by an East Jerusalem man, who was indicted for his role in the attack. Halabi was shot dead at the scene after also attempting to use Lavi's firearm.

Days before the attack Halabi, a law student loosely affiliated with the Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds University student branch, wrote on his Facebook that the "third intifada had begun.

On Sunday October 2, Halabi allegedly asked Abed al-Aziz Meri from Abu Dis to help him enter Jerusalem so he could pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They scaled the West Bank separation barrier and walked to the Old City. They tried entering the Temple Mount compound through two separate gates, but each time were stopped by Border Policemen.

According to legal officials, Meri then incited Halabi to commit murder, attaining a knife for him.
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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) -- Israeli forces demolished the home of a Palestinian suspected of having killed two Israelis in October, after large numbers of Israeli military vehicles stormed the village of Surda north of Ramallah in the central West Bank at dawn on Saturday.

Muhannad al-Halabi, 19, was shot dead by Israeli forces on Oct. 3, 2015 after he killed two Israelis and injured two more in Jerusalem's Old City, in the first stab attack to take place in the wave of unrest that has continued in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the demolition to Ma’an.
“Overnight, according to government directives, security demolished the home of Muhannad al-Halabi, who murdered Rabbi Nehemia Lavi and IDF soldier Aharon Banita on Oct. 3,” she said.

Locals told Ma’an that clashes broke out in Surda between young Palestinian men and Israeli troops who were in the village for the demolition. Witnesses and medical sources said three young men were hit with rubber-coated steel bullets -- one in the back, another in the leg and a third in the hand.

Before the demolition, Israeli forces closed traffic on the road between Ramallah and Surda. The road is a main route to several villages and towns in the northern outskirts of the Ramallah district. Ambulances and reporters were denied access to the area.
Israeli troops also deployed in the outskirts of Ramallah and the village of Abu Qash, locals said.

Al-Halabi’s family had evacuated the house four days after the attack and moved to live in the city of Ramallah in anticipation of their house being destroyed.

An initial objection to the demolition was filed by the HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual, an Israeli human rights organization, on Oct. 17, 2015.

According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the Israeli High Court of Justice froze the demolition order for al-Halabi’s home along with several others on Oct. 22, but the court later rejected an appeal against the demolition.

Israeli forces have long used house demolition as a punishment for Palestinian attacks or attempted attacks against Israelis, even if the alleged perpetrator had already been killed or detained. The practice had been decried by numerous rights groups as collective punishment mainly targeting the accused’s relatives.

Israeli rights organization B’Tselem has slammed the house demolitions as a “punitive measure against the Palestinian population,” and argued that “the deterrent effect of house demolitions has never been proven.”