Two Druze Police officers killed in Temple Mount terror attack
Two police officers were murdered on Friday morning in a terrorist shooting attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and a third was lightly wounded.Haiel Sitawe, 30, and Kamil Shnaan, 22, named as officers slain at Temple Mount
The officers have been identified as Command Sergeant Major Hayil Satawi and Command Sergeant Major Kamil Shanaan.
Satawi, 30, lives in the northern Druze town of Maghar, served his mandatory service in the Border Police and became a career patrol officer in the Temple Mount Unit. He left behind his wife (Arin) and a three-week-old son, as well as his parents and three siblings.
Shanaan, 22, lives in the northern Druze town of Hurfeish, and has served as a career police officer since his enlistment seven months ago as a patrol officer on the Temple Mount and in the Old City's police unit. He is the son of former Labor party member
Shachiv Shanaan. He left behind one brother and three sisters.
Both officers were critically injured and transferred to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus, where the doctors were forced to declare their deaths. The officer who was lightly injured was transferred to Shaarei Zedek Hospital, with shrapnel in his hands and neck.
The funeral of Satawi will be held in Maghar at 4:00p.m. Shanaan's funeral will be held in Hurfeish at 6:00p.m.
Initial investigations showed that three terrorists descended the Temple Mount after prayers armed with weapons and walked towards the Old City's Lions Gate. Seeing the police officers, the terrorists fired, then ran back towards the mosques on the Temple Mount.
Police officers chased them and eliminated the terrorists during a shootout. The terrorists were found to have two pistols and a rifle.
Speaking to the press soon after the attack, Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich said: “This was a tough morning for the police. We have two people killed, officers, who paid the dearest price in this battle.”VIDEO: Dramatic new footage emerges of Temple Mount attack
Sitawe, 30, hailed from the town of Maghar, a mostly Druze and Arab city in northern Israel.
Shnaan, 22, was from the Druze village of Hurfeish, also in northern Israel.
Sitawe joined the Border Police as part of his mandatory national service. He joined the Israel Police in 2012 and had served in the unit responsible for securing the Temple Mount ever since.
He leaves behind a wife, Irin, a three-week-old son, his parents and three brothers.
Shnaan joined the police directly after high school. He decided to stay on the police force seven months ago, signing on as a career officer.
He was the youngest son of a former Labor Party Knesset member, Shachiv Shnaan. His engagement party to his girlfriend was to be held next week.
Shnaan leaves behind his parents, one brother and three sisters.
Both Shnaan and Sitawe were posthumously promoted to the rank of master sergeant.
Israel Police have released dramatic new footage of the Temple Mount attack that killed two police officers on Friday.'Neutralized' terrorist stands up and is eliminated
The video, released on Friday afternoon, shows two of the three attackers, armed with guns, approaching a male police officer and shooting him in the back.
The slain officers were named as Hail Stawi, 30, from Maghar and Kamil Shanan, 22, from Hurfeish, both in northern Israel.
The attackers were identified by the Shin Bet as 29-year-old Muhammad Ahmad Mahmoud Jabarin, Muhammad Ahmed Fadel Jabarin 19, and Muhammad Hamed 'Abd al-Latif Jabarin, 19, from Umm el-Fahm in northern Israel.
'Neutralized' terrorist stands back up to continue shooting policemen and is eliminated before he can fire.