The Israeli response was quick after the discovery on August 8 of the body of a young soldier without uniform stabbed multiple times, an attack that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as "terrorist". Israeli security forces began squatting a sensitive area of ​​the occupied West Bank.

The body of Dvir Sorek, 19 years old according to the army, was found near the Jewish settlement of Migdal Oz in the area of ​​Gush Etzion, between the cities of Bethlehem and Hebron, a recurring theater of clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police. . The young soldier was studying in a yeshiva, a study center of the Torah, as part of a special program combining religious study and military service, the director of his school told Israeli national radio.

Shortly after the announcement of his death, the army, the police and members of Shin Bet, the internal intelligence services, squared the area. And reinforcements were sent to the West Bank, the army assured later in the morning. In Migdal Oz, a police unit was holding reporters a little less than a hundred meters away from the scene on Thursday morning.

An AFP journalist, however, was able to see the deployment of security forces and rescuers. Dozens of soldiers and police have also entered the nearby Palestinian city of Beit Fajjar, going from house to house to get their hands on security cameras, according to an AFP journalist there. These video recordings could be used to identify the movements of potential suspects.

"Legitimate response" according to Islamic Jihad

The Israeli army has not yet discussed the circumstances of this death, but referred to a "terrorist attack" like the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, currently campaigning for legislative 17 September that 's announce fiercely disputed. "Today, one of our best children is still dead (...) .Those crooked terrorists come to destroy while we are here to build," said Benjamin Netanyahu during a trip to the Jewish settlement of Beit El, to attend the inauguration of 650 new homes.

In a statement, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed Islamic group praised - without claiming - the murder of the young Israeli soldier, considered in his view a "legitimate" response to the West Bank's colonization.

With AFP