IDF soldiers.

JNS.org – The Israel Defense Forces apprehended three Palestinian Authority security officers who allegedly killed an Israeli near Nablus in 2011, Israeli officials said on Wednesday. The arrests, which were made in May but embargoed until Tuesday, were carried out with the help of the Shin Bet security agency.

Ben-Yosef Livnat, an Israeli from the Samaria community of Elon Moreh and the nephew of Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat, was killed in April 2011 when a group of Israelis tried to cross a Palestinian checkpoint en route to Joseph’s Tomb, where they had planned to pray. Due to the sensitive location of the site—on the outskirts of Nablus—Jews who wish to pray there must obtain the necessary permits from the Israeli authorities. Livnat and the other Israelis in the group did not coordinate their visit and were fired upon when they tried to pass through the Palestinian checkpoint.

The three detained Palestinian officers are Nawaf Fahd Nawaf Bani Uda, 24, Wa’el Khussein Muhammad Daud, 24, and Raki Diab Turki Zu’ara, 23. They were interrogated by Shin Bet officers and later confessed that they deliberately fired on the Israeli convoy even though they were not in a life-threatening situation. Shin Bet officials believe the new information implicates one of them as the shooter who killed Livnat.