The Israeli military on Monday released images of the third suspect involved in the Jordan Valley shooting attack, who is still on the loose, having fled the scene a day earlier.
According to the military, the third suspect is Maher Al-Sayeed - a 50-year-old farmer living in a Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley.
He is alleged to have accompanied two other Palestinian gunmen during an attack on a bus carrying soldiers, which left seven Israelis wounded. The IDF said the car used in the shooting has an Israeli license plate, and is registered under Al-Sayeed wife’s name - who has an Israeli ID.
The other two terrorists, relatives Walid and Mohammad Turkman, have been caught shortly after the shooting and are currently under arrest. They are believed to be residents of Jenin.
Al-Sayeed is known to authorities in the Jordan Valley. “We know him well. He constructs buildings illegally and does whatever he wants. To create empathy for himself, he sometimes brings with him his 80-year-old father to complain about being accused of stealing water, and you can’t do much to a senior citizen,” a military source told Ynet.
According to the IDF, he was last arrested three weeks ago when he tried to re-route water from Israeli territory to his agricultural fields.
Meanwhile, security officials continue to investigate the shooting attack. A preliminary investigation shows the gunmen were armed with M-16 rifles, which they received from a terrorist organization along with funding.
In addition, the IDF's Jordan Valley Brigade decided on shutting down roads used for agricultural work by Palestinian workers. Following the attack, forces the Jordan Valley are likely to be bolstered, and security around the roads and bus stops in the area will be increased to prevent copycat attacks and maintain the safety of the residents.
The Jordan Valley is considered an area of the West Bank where Israeli residents usually feel safe, and opting to carry out the attack there is considered highly unusual. Security officials say they will examine if the location was picked in order to proliferate terror attacks to other places in the West Bank.
The IDF is said to fear “unplanned” copycat attacks in other parts of the West Bank.
In the meantime, IDF troops operated in the West Bank in the pre-dawn hours as part of the continued manhunt for Al-Sayeed. The IDF arrested 17 suspects in total during the operation, and seized more than 10,000 NIS, which is suspected to have been used to fund weapons and ammunition for terrorists.