A Palestinian man accused of killing an Israeli rabbi died on Tuesday in an exchange of fire with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, the IDF said.
"A terrorist behind the attack in which Rabbi Michael Mark was assassinated on 1 July was killed on Tuesday night during exchanges of fire with soldiers," the statement said. "During the operation to stop Mohamed Fakih, who carried out the attack, he was killed in an exchange of fire with soldiers."
Mark, 46, a father of 10, was killed and three members of his family were injured this month when suspected Palestinian gunmen opened fire on his car, south of Hebron. Tuesday night's shoot out took place in the village of Surif, north of the West Bank city of more than 200,000 Palestinians, the IDF said.
Fakih, 29, had served time in Israeli jail for links to the Islamic Jihad movement. His brother and cousin were also held on suspicion of helping him to hide after the attack.
Hamas on Wednesday identified Fakih a member of its armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades. The house in which Fakih was hiding out was damaged during the fighting and then demolished by an Israeli bulldozer.
Michael Mark's car had crashed after Fakih fired on it, and Mark's wife was critically injured while one of the two children in the car, a teenage girl, was seriously wounded. The family was on its way to Jerusalem to visit Mark’s mother. A Palestinian doctor, Ali Shroukh, who was passing by the scene, came to the rescue of the injured.
