Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian man on Saturday suspected of killing an Israeli woman found dead two days ago in a forest on the outskirts of Jerusalem, police said. Also on that day, Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a 14 year old child.
The Israeli Shin Bet internal security service and police said in a statement that the 29-year-old Palestinian suspect was seized over the killing of the 19-year-old woman during a raid in the Palestinian city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Shin Bet said the suspect left his home in the Palestinian city of Hebron carrying a knife, saw the victim in the forest and killed her. It was still investigating the motive.
Palestinian authorities did not immediately comment.
Israel’s Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said he viewed it as a terrorist attack. “We’re talking about a wide phenomenon of terrorism we’re dealing with here,” he told Reshet TV.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2014 and a bid by US President Donald Trump to restart negotiations has so far shown little progress.