Manhunt for terror suspect continues in north Tel Aviv
Despite heavy security across the city, including around educational insitutions, parents are wary of sending their children to school two days after deadly shooting on Dizengoff Street.
The manhunt for Nashat Melhem, who killed two and wounded several others in a shooting attack at a bar on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, continued on Sunday morning, two days after the deadly attack.
Security forces were patrolling the city in large numbers, focusing search efforts on north Tel Aviv, where Melhem was last seen and where he is believed to still be hiding since the attack on Friday. They are still waiting for the terrorist to make a mistake, or for a "golden tip" that would lead them to him.
Police are worried the suspect is hiding somewhere in the densely populated city, where he could attempt another attack. Because of that, the Tel Aviv municipality decided to increase security across the city, particularly around education institutions, including Tel Aviv University. Despite that, many parents chose not to send their children to school.
According to the municipality, in the north of the city only about 50 percent of the students came to school, in the south 90 percent and in the center about 70 percent. In Alliance High School in north Tel Aviv, not far from where searches have been taking place since Friday, only 230 students out of 1,600 came.
Melhem's brother, Jodat, was arrested following the attack on suspicions of being an accessory to murder and premeditated killing. The Haifa Magistrate's Court extended his remand by five days on Saturday night.
Jodat Melhem's attorney, Nechami Feinblatt, was barred by the Shin Bet from meeting with his client for three days.
Feinblatt told Ynet that the father's weapon, which is believed to have been used by Nashat to commit the attack, was seized by police several months ago on suspicion it was used by one of the family members to threaten someone.
The weapon was in police possession for several months, until the case was closed due to the lack of evidence. The father then requested the police to return to weapon to him, and police eventually relented.
"The fact the weapon was returned to him is strange," Feinblatt said. "Police could have kept the weapon. When police has a weapon like that, they're usually not quick to return it. 99% of appeals on weapons are rejected, because the trend is to reduce the amount of arms in the public's possession."
Residents of Wadi Ara who spoke with Ynet condemned the act and called on the terrorist to surrender. "No one has the intention to rationalize the criminal act or build up a line of defense", said the Arara's high school principal Khader Akel, who knows Melhem well.
"No lawyer for the family. We will not defend him at all. We denounce and condemn the act, and we regret the murder of Alon and Shimon who were cut down in such a way."
Nashat graduated from the school 12 years ago, and given his out of the ordinary character, the principal had no way of not remembering him: "He wasn't a regular student; he was full of anger. Despite having a very beautiful and smiley face, inside he is full of anger. I had to accompany him almost every day to dissolve the anger he had within him. He was not very sane - that is to say it is clear that something is wrong with him," Akel recounted.
According to the principal, after Nishat finished high school he did not have a steady job and probably did not pursue academic studies. "He did hold on to a single job. I met him a month ago. He worked here in a vegetable store in town."
Ahmed Milhem, a relative of the terrorist, said the family was living a nightmare: "We're waiting like everyone else for the results of the investigation. We, in the the family, always heard that he was suffering from a trauma and that he had a behavior disorder. There was no clear recommendation from the court that we should send him to an institution for treatment, and since there is no state framework for that purpose, he was left outside without treatment. He came from a poor family, with a single minimum wage earner, so he does not have the ability to pay for his own treatment."
Nashat Melhem's photo and information were distributed to security forces at checkpoints to the West Bank, including those leading to Jerusalem on Highway 443, to stop him from escaping into the Palestinian Authority.
Yoav Zitun contributed to this report.
