A gag order has been imposed on information connected to the investigation of the brutal slaughter of five members of the Fogel family in Itamar on Friday night.
Israeli forces are questioning everyone who might know or have seen anything untoward in the Samaria community, including the Thai and Philippine workers who are employed there. This gave the opportunity to several Palestinian news agencies, such as the Bethlehem-based Ma’an News, to run stories claiming that a foreign worker had been arrested for the killings as he was owed money by the family.
The focus of the search, however, is in nearby Arab settlements. Israeli forces detained over 300 Palestinians in the village of Awarta in the Nablus district after imposing a three-day curfew on residents, Palestinian security officials told AFP. Two Palestinian Authority intelligence officers were amongst those detained, officials added.
According to Maan,the militant wings of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah have all denied involvement in the murders, with the Al-Aqsa Brigades, who originally claimed credit for the barbaric slaughter, saying Monday in a statement that they "oppose the targeting of civilians and killing of children no matter what the pretext may be." There was rejoicing in the streets of Gaza, handing out of sweets and stated approval on the part of Hamas at the news of the murders. One day after the terrorist massacre in Itamar, Abbas’ Fatah faction named a town square after the jihadist leader of a 1978 bus hijacking in which 35 Israelis were killed.
The Gaza government also accused Israel of assuming prematurely that the killings were perpetrated by Palestinians. . Perhaps the Gazan reaction is the one believed by CNN, which put quotes around the words "terrorist attacks" in its original coverage. Israel protested to CNN., a further proof of the investigation’s focus, if any was needed in addition to the electronic fence alert and previous terrorist history in Itamar.