Israeli Soldier found stabbed to death outside West Bank settlement
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The body of a religious Israeli student and soldier who had been stabbed to death was discovered outside a settlement in the Gush Etzion area of the West Bank in the predawn hours of Thursday morning, prompting a massive manhunt for the killer.
The victim, who was later identified Dvir Sorek of the Ofra settlement, was studying at a religious seminary in the Migdal Oz settlement, and had joined the military while continuing his studies, in a program known in Hebrew as hesder.
Palestinians look on as Israeli soldiers conduct a search operation after a 19-year-old Israeli soldier’s body, Corporal Dvir Sorek, was found with multiple stab wounds, near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz, close to Hebron. EPA-EFE/ABED AL HASHLAMOUN
Though formally a soldier, he was unarmed and not in uniform at the time of the attack, nor had he undergone military training.
He is believed to have been abducted elsewhere before being stabbed and left at a roadside, Israeli media report.
Israeli soldiers at the scene near the West Bank settlement of Migdal Oz, close to Hebron. EPA-EFE/ABED AL HASHLAMOUN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the culprit as a “despicable terrorist”.
There has been no claim of responsibility for the killing, though a spokesman for Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which rules the Gaza Strip, justified the attack.
