Watch: IDF Maps Homes of PA Terrorists for Demolition After Gush Etzion Attack

On the night of July 10, 2025, IDF forces from the Etzion and Samaria Brigades, alongside engineering units, conducted operations in the Judea and Samaria villages of Halhul and Bazariya to map the homes of two Palestinian Authority police officers, Mahmoud Yosef Aabed, 23, from Halhul, and Maalek Ibrahim Salem, 23, from Bazariya near Nablus, for potential demolition. The two, who carried out a deadly combined stabbing and shooting attack at the Gush Etzion Junction’s Rami Levy shopping complex, killed 22-year-old security guard Shalev Zevuloni before being neutralized by an armed civilian and an IDF soldier. The IDF’s swift action to survey the attackers’ residences is part of Israel’s policy to deter future terror attacks by demolishing the homes of perpetrators, a practice rooted in Emergency Security Regulations but criticized as collective punishment by some human rights groups.

The operation followed the attack, which saw the assailants, one trained at a Qatar military academy, spend 40 minutes circling the complex in a stolen vehicle with yellow license plates before stabbing Zevuloni, stealing his handgun, and shooting him. The IDF stated, “The mapping was carried out in preparation for examining the possibility of demolishing the terrorists’ homes.” Troops also established roadblocks around Halhul, Hebron, and Bethlehem to prevent further incidents. The Palestinian Authority launched an inquiry into its failure to prevent the attack by its own officers, amid heightened regional tensions. Social media posts on X expressed alarm, with one user noting, “PA cops turning terrorists is a dangerous escalation.” The attack, one of 19 deadly Palestinian assaults in the West Bank in 2025, underscores ongoing security challenges, with the IDF intensifying counterterrorism efforts, including over 3,700 operations in the region since October 2023.