Teen suspect detained for terror attack
15-year-old allegedly responsible for stabbing Dafna Meir to death in Otniel has been captured in a Palestinian city, apparently acted alone.
Security forces on Tuesday morning captured a 15-year-old, Morad Adais, who allegedly murdered Dafna Meir on Sunday in a terror attack at her home. He was apprehended at his home in Yatta, near Otniel, where the murder took place and south of Hebron.
It appears that like most of the terrorists in the wave of violence that began in September, Adais acted alone and had no previous record, thus making it extremely difficult for security forces to know of his plans in advance.
Har Hevron Regional Council chief Yochai Damari said the terrorist entered Otniel by finding a breach in the settlement's defenses.
Video released on Monday showed the terrorist's escape from Otniel. Reports that day said the terrorist appeared to have fled in the direction of Yatta. Tuesday's capture also put to rest rumors that the terrorist was a laborer at Otniel. Adais was not employed as a laborer and presumably snuck into Otniel. The settlement is fenced only in the forested area between one of the large yeshivot and Highway 60, from which terrorists infiltrated in the past. In other parts of the settlements there is no fence, but only electronic measures such as motion detectors and security cameras.
Witnesses reported a brutal scene on Sunday: Dafna Meir was painting her house's doorframe when the terrorist approached her from behind and stuck his knife in her head. Meir's daughter Renana, the eldest of six children, was present and called for help, her screams helping to scare him off. "I'm sorry that in your hardest moments I was unable to help you," Renana said at her mother's funeral.
Dafna Meir, 38, is survived by her husband Natan and their six children: Renana, 17, Akiva, 15, Ahava, 10, Noa, 11, Yair, six, and Yaniv, four.
